Quidditch Hooligans
by D.Mentor
Summary: My entries into The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, random ideas and one shots.
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: I decided to post some random ideas that might get flushed out into full stories later. Also it will hold my entries into **The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition**. See end notes for prompts.)

Disclaimer: I only own my crazy ideas.

* * *

A Girl and Her Thestral

* * *

Rain pelted the windows of the Hogwarts library. Spring had arrived in a soggy slushy mess that had turned exposed ground into quagmires and driven all but the most diehard Quidditch fans back indoors. Once, Harry might have been among those who stayed out to fly and practice, but not this year. This year he had been banned from flying and had his broom confiscated by Umbridge, that unholy spawn of a toad and troll the Ministry had sent to Hogwarts to teach them _defense_.

With a sigh, Harry returned to his Potions essay, Snape had assigned every student a different potion to study and write about from the list provided for the O.W.L.s. His potion, the Ordag-coise fasgadh, was apparently meant to remove the big toe. It was needlessly complicated and useless. A perfect fit for his current views on the wizarding world.

He was just describing how to add the shaved boar hoof when his fingers cramped. He dropped the quill and clutched his hand tightly. The hours Umbridge had spent forcing him to write with a blood quill had certainly taken their toll on his hand. He looked down at the puckered white skin on the back of his hand. Even Hermione's care couldn't undo all of the scarring, and while it had helped his skin heal Harry suspected there was little to do for the muscles underneath except to pay a visit to Madam Pomfrey.

But he couldn't help to feel that going to see the matron would somehow be admitting defeat. Harry leaned back and sighed. Maybe it was like Hermione said; and he was just being stubborn.

"Does your hand hurt?"

Harry jumped at the soft, light voice by his ear. He spun, half out of his chair to find Luna watching him curiosity.

"Oh- hey, Luna. I, er, didn't see you there. Sorry, you just frightened me." Harry said. He had noticed during the DA meetings that oftentimes, Luna barely made a sound. Ron had even suggested that they have her wear a bell to keep better track of her.

"Really? I've never been called frightening before. Are you trying to make a _potestas cicatrix_? Daddy told me about them." Luna sat down next to Harry and glanced over the pile of reference books.

"A what?" Harry asked.

"_Potestas cicatrix_. Daddy said there used to be people who would carve runes onto their bodies to use magic." Luna explained as she picked up a thin book on traditional potion ingredients of Scotland. She turned the book upside down and began to read. Harry had seen her do the same with copies of the Quibbler but learned it was because parts of it were published that way.

"Er, no, nothing like that." Harry did his best to hide the back of his hand from her. He didn't want anyone else to find out about it. Not that Luna seemed very concerned but still.

"Oh good, because I don't think it would work in English." Luna said.

"Right…" Well she had definitely seen it then, and well enough to see the language too. When it was clear Luna's attention was focused on the book though Harry returned to his essay.

Unfortunately, he was finding it harder to focus. Why on earth would someone need a potion that took eighteen hours to brew and had over thirty steps just to remove a toe? His attention began to wander to the storm outside. If he squinted, he could almost make out a Quidditch team practicing through the sheet of rain. He wondered what plays they were working on.

"Do you miss it?" Luna's voice broke through his thoughts.

"Miss what?" Harry asked.

"Quidditch." Luna said.

"I do. Maybe not in this weather, but it was fun to play. I miss flying." Harry replied. After a moment, he nodded to the book she still held upside-down. "Er- are you reading that upside-down?"

"Of course, it would be odd if I couldn't, wouldn't it?" Luna said puzzled.

"I suppose so. I've just never meet anyone who reads like that." Harry said.

"Well I read normally if I'm in a hurry. I can read sideways almost as well but this still takes me longer. So I'm practicing." Luna explained.

"Okay. But why would you want to learn to read upside down?" Harry asked. While he was truly curious as to the answer, he also found chatting with Luna to be a great diversion from his Potions essay. Though at this point, he would have said the same about watching paint dry.

"Well, one never knows when they will need to read something while hanging upside-down does one? Besides, what is the point of learning new things if you never change how you look at them? Daddy says one of the worst things that can happen to a person is that they mentally stagnate. Then it's easy to become infested with cowoggelers or humdingers." Luna said.

"So you read like that as a mental exercise." Harry said a hint of pride in his voice at having understood her explanation. Take that Snape.

"Exactly." Luna smiled brightly. "You're the first person to even bother asking. Does your hand hurt?"

The abrupt change in topic threw Harry. "What?"

"Your hand, does it hurt? You've been rubbing it for a while." Luna said.

Harry hadn't noticed until then but he was rubbing his right hand, trying to work out the seemingly permanent kink he felt there. "It's nothing."

A frown crossed her face before it was replaced by her normal smile. "Meet me tonight after dinner by the painting of the owls playing chess."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"I think I know how to solve most of your problems." Luna replied cryptically before she stood and walked away, humming a tune Harry didn't recognize.

* * *

That night Harry covered himself with his Invisibly Cloak and watched the Marauder's Map. It had been easy enough to spot Luna's dot and make sure the corridors near her were empty. He made his way towards her without difficulty.

Luna stood watching the large painting of a chess game. On either side of the board was an owl. Occasional one would make a noise and a piece of the game would move. Harry preformed a last check to make sure they were alone and removed his cloak.

She didn't seem surprised when he appeared from seemingly empty air. "Good evening Harry. Are you ready?"

"For what?" Harry asked.

"Wait and see." Luna tapped the painting with her wand and the game pieces snapped back into place. She began to call out moves that the black pieces followed. It only took her a few minutes to win the game but those minutes dragged on as Harry continued to glance at the map.

When the white king surrendered the entire painting swung forward. A staircase behind it rose and twisted away. Luna grabbed his hand and pulled him towards it. "Come on."

As they climbed the stairs, Harry stole a peek at the map. They had vanished from it. "How did you find this passage?"

"Well in my second year, I asked the owls in the painting if I could play. When I won, the painting swung open." Luna explained. "I've found a few others like this one. All involve winning some game and they all lead to the same spot. At the far end of the east corridor, on the fifth floor, there's a troll statue that faces backwards. If you squeeze past him there's another chess set, but he's much harder to beat than the owls."

Harry decided to just nod and accept it. They continued up the stairs until he was sure they had reached at least the seventh floor. Finally they came to a door, Luna opened it and they stepped through. Onto the grounds near the green houses.

He spun around but the door has already vanished. "How?"

"Magic, I assume. But it only goes one way. Hold still a moment." She pointed her wand at his shoes before she muttered a spell, then repeated it on her own. Luna turned and walked towards Hagrid's hut. "It's really more useful from the higher entrances and has a shorter walk as well but the second floor is less crowded."

"What was that spell?" Harry asked as he followed Luna, he immediately noticed his feet weren't sinking into the sloppy ground.

"It's something Daddy taught me for when we have to walk through swamps or snow." As they walked Luna began to skip from side to side. "Zero, one. Let's have fun. Two, three. Chase a bee. Four, Five. Find the hive. Six, Seven. Name it Kevin. Eight, Nine. Make him mine."

To Harry's surprise Luna took him right passed Hagrid's hut into the forest. "Er, Luna? You know we're in the Forbidden Forest, right?"

"Well I would hope so; it would be odd if we were in a different forest already." Luna replied cheerfully as she jumped onto a fallen log and walked along it.

"Not to be rude, but, you know it's actually forbidden for a reason, don't you?" Harry asked.

Luna stopped, turned on her heel and brought her finger to her chin in an exaggerated expression of thought. "No offence taken."

When Harry still hesitated she walked back to him and grabbed his hand. It wasn't long before they reached a clearing, just as the moon finally broke through the lingering clouds. The clearing was filled with skeletal horses, their bat like wings tucked close to their skeletal bodies. Milky eyes turned to face the newcomers. Thestrals, Harry supposed this must be where they stayed when they weren't being used to pull the Hogwarts carriages.

Luna dropped Harry's hand and walked happily among them. Several came forward and nudged her, trying to gain her attention. "It's a shame that thestrals have such a dreadful reputation. They're the gentlest creatures I've ever met. They won't hurt you."

Harry took a hesitant step forward. One of the creatures, slightly smaller than the rest, turned towards him. It reached out with its head and sniffed at him before returning its attention to Luna. She stroked its nose affectionately. "This is Kent."

"Kent?" Harry couldn't keep the smirk off his face.

"In my first year I came out here right after he was born. For some reason he began to follow me after that, whenever I was outside the castle. No one else could see him so they thought I was loony when I talked to him. I named him after his beautiful white eyes." Luna walked further into the herd with Harry trailing behind her. She introduced him to several more thestrals, though how she could tell him apart he wasn't exactly sure.

The small thestral trotted along with them, flexing his wings and sniffing at Harry's robes. Harry hesitated as he stared at the thestrals, shifting and moving around in the darkness.

Luna noticed. "You're thinking about Cedric aren't you?"

"Yes." Harry admitted.

"People have an annoying habit of remembering things they shouldn't." Luna said. "People tend to hold onto that which has hurt them."

"What?" Harry asked, caught by surprise.

"People focus on their failures, even if they tend to have more successes. You can hardly be blamed for his death, but you seem to think it's a failure of yours, even though you survived You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters and everything else." Luna paused for a minute before she turned back towards the thestrals. "We can't change our mistakes, all we can do is learn from them. And sometimes we learn something that can help someone else."

Harry watched as Luna led Kent back over to him, then took his hand and held it out towards the thestral. Kent sniffed him again before a long black tongue poked out and licked him. Harry watched in amazement as each time the thestral's tongue ran over them the puckered white letters faded further. He could even feel something similar happening to the muscles on the back of his hand as they relaxed. He looked questioningly at Luna.

"I don't understand it but it seems they have some healing properties, or they eat scars, I'm not sure which. I wonder if some many people would be afraid of them if they knew how useful they are." Luna stroked Kent's nose as he finished.

Amazed, Harry examined is now unmarked hand. He could flex his fingers again without pain. "Luna, do you think…" Unsure how to ask Harry gestured towards the famous scar on his forehead. He hated it and the attention it brought him but if the thestrals could free him of it.

"We can find out." As Harry crouched down Luna directed Kent toward the lightning bolt shaped scar.

He could feel the thestrals warm moist breath on his head. And unfortunately smell the rotten meat it had just eaten. Harry did his best not to gag. Kent snorted before he jerked his head back and managed to look highly offended at the two humans. Then he trotted away.

"Well that was new." Luna said in surprise. She looked back at Harry. "You aren't going to get toska again because you 'failed' to get rid of your scar are you?"

A deep sigh escaped Harry, he didn't think it was the same but understood her point. "No."

"Oh good, I was afraid I'd have no other recourse than Daddy's method of sheering people up." Luna said cheerfully.

"Eh, what is his method?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Dancing. Daddy says the best way to get rid of negative feelings is to scare them away and nothing is more frightening than him dancing. He does something he calls the jitterbug." Luna said.

"I suppose my own dancing is a bit scary." Harry admitted. "So, what's toska?"

"It's what my mother used to call it when I was sad. I liked it, so I've kept on saying it. So… do you feel any better?" Luna asked

"I'm definitely better off…" Harry said. "Thank you."

"You know there is one other thing I thought you might enjoy tonight, thestral wings aren't just for show." Luna said with a mischievous look.

"You mean we can…" Harry's face split into the biggest grin of the night.

* * *

Harry couldn't help smiling as he and Luna walked back towards the castle. They had spent hours flying on the thestrals, and had almost certainly broken their curfew, but he was too exhausted to care. The experience was different than ridding a broom of hippogriff, the thestrals seemed to just glide along the air as they pleased.

Luna's smile was even wider than Harry's. As they walked Luna drew a large, radish like vegetable from her pocket and took a bite. "Would you like some?"

"Eh, no that's fine." Harry said.

Luna laughed and handed him the radish. He was surprised to find that it was bright orange and luscious. Harry raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Dirigible plums. My uncle made them. We don't know how. Everyone just assumed I was insane after Kent and never bothered to ask. They look just like radishes when ripe. Daddy and I grow them in our garden." Luna said. "Would you like to come with me to see the thestrals again tomorrow?"

"Of course." Harry happily agreed.

"Wonderful, I want to bring them some sour milk; I think they got into some meat that was to rotten for even them to eat." Luna began to hum as they snuck back into the castle.

* * *

(A/N: The prompts were to write about another team members favorite characters, as well as use the words luscious, jitterbug, and the quote "People have an annoying habit of remembering things they shouldn't." - Christopher Paolini, Eragon.)


	2. Unseen Friends

(A/N: My second entry into the quidditch league, the prompts used this time were the setting of the prefects' bath, the quote 'Boyfriends and girlfriends will come and go but this is for life' and the song 'You are not alone' which inspired the last part of the story.)

Disclaimer: If I owned it would I really tell you?

Unseen friend

Luna hummed as she strolled down the dark corridor. It was well past curfew. Even Filch would be in bed by such an hour. However the knocker to the Ravenclaw common room had been hexed again to keep her out. It had happened so many times over the last few years that it was little more than an annoyance. She knew of several places she could comfortably spend the night. However she had been looking forward to taking a shower. Her class had been working with fresh dragon dung that day. She would just have to make do with cleaning charms until she could sneak back into her dorm.

Without students filling the halls they seemed so much larger. Luna passed a corridor where Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost floated along. Occasionally his translucent face would twitch, his eyes focused on something far away. Ghosts didn't sleep, but they did rest and dream of their life before they died. Personally Luna thought that Professor Binns suffered from the ghost equivalent of sleep walking.

"Hello Luna, locked out again?" Myrtle asked as she glided through a wall.

Luna smiled at the ghostly girl. "Hello Myrtle, yes. I think the knocker mistook my answer for a muggle 'pop' song this time. It has quite a lovely singing voice."

"I wish I had seen that, while I was alive the most interesting thing it ever did was yell at everyone in Spanish." Myrtle said as she remembered that prank. Since the entire house had been affected, not just herself, she found it very amusing. She shook off the urge to start remembering her life, being dead was much more interesting. "Hmm, you seem to have a bit of, something, in your hair."

Luna reached up to where Myrtle was indicating and removed another small clump of dragon dung. "Thanks."

Myrtle looked Luna over. "You need a bath."

"Yes." Luna agreed. "However without being able to get into my dorm I don't seem to have that option."

"Well you could use the prefects' bath." Myrtle suggested. "The password is 'Pine Fresh'; it's a very nice bath. You could just float around for hours."

Myrtle mimicked floating in water as she drifted beside Luna and gave her directions to the prefects' bath.

0-0

Luna couldn't believe the size of the bath, let alone the room it was in. she gratefully sank into the warm water while Myrtle went in search of a house elf that could quickly wash her clothes. Luna lost track of time as she relaxed and played with the numerous bubbles that poured from several of the taps.

"You look like you had a beard." Myrtle said as she floated above the soapy water.

"Good, how does my hat look?" Luna asked as she patted the bubbles on her head.

"It could be bigger."

Luna scooped up another handful of bubbles to place on her head. "So how did you know the password anyways?"

"Well I might come spy on the prefects from time to time." Myrtle said with a giggle. She was disappointed to see no reaction from Luna. What fun was it trying to tease a friend if she didn't react?

"I supposed that would be interesting." Luna finally said, though she could think of a dozen better ways to use the abilities of a ghost.

"Well this evening it was _very _interesting. Harry Potter was here." Myrtle said.

"Really? I didn't know he was a prefect, I was sure he was still a fourth year. Unless I'm a fourth year now and have somehow forgotten." Luna said with a small frown. That last several seconds before both she and Myrtle cracked up.

Myrtle, not needing to breathe while laughing was the first to recover. "One of these days I will be able to tell when you are joking or not."

"Then I will just need to get better won't I?" Luna said cheerfully. Myrtle had been a great help in her first year and somehow her slightly spacy attitude had become a joke between them. "Is it true that Harry Potter gets a snitch tattooed on himself for every quidditch game he wins?"

"Well if he does they hide very well." Myrtle said. "It's a shame you weren't here when he was, you could have helped him a great deal. I finally took pity on him and told him what Cedric did with his egg while he was here."

"It will be interesting to see what he does for the task." Luna believed that Harry hadn't entered his name and shouldn't have to participate. But she couldn't deny that she found his methods interesting.

"How would you do the task if you were competing?" Myrtle asked.

"Oh I would use gillyweed. I've always wanted to try it and being able to breath underwater would be an amazing experience. Also I've always wondered if it tasted like gillywater" Luna said. She never noticed Dobby had chosen that moment to return her now cleaned clothes.

Myrtle smiled. She did still owe Harry for killing the beast that killed her, hopefully the crazy little elf that practically worshipped him would do what needed to be done. She floated over her friend and poked her head through the bubble hat. "Oh Luna, when you grow up and get a boyfriend I will miss this."

That very thing had happened to the few other friends Myrtle had made since her death. Normally by fifth year they were too busy for her anymore and she went another decade before someone else sparked her interest.

"Well as my father says before he goes on an expedition, 'Boyfriends and girlfriends will come and go but this is for life.'" Luna said.

"One, I'm not alive thank you. And why does he say that before he goes on an expedition?" Myrtle asked.

"You're more alive than many of the living in the castle." Luna insisted. "And I'm not sure. He just has for the last few years. Then he comes back covered in lipstick. He says it's to ward away the Hephlumps."

"Luna, I'm not sure your fathers going on real expeditions…" Myrtle said. The conversation had quickly turned into a less than comfortable thing for the dead girl.

0-0

Myrtle floated by the window in the prefects' bathroom. Snow swirled outside, driven by the highland winds. While she didn't feel physical sensations, such as the cold anymore the weather matched her mood wonderfully. Things had become so boring without Luna in the castle. Not that Myrtle could blame her for leaving. The last year had just been horrible for her friend.

The Ministry of Magic had sent a woman to teach defense and in general cause trouble. While Luna wasn't at the top of her list Myrtle had still had to act several times to keep her friend safe. Mostly by bribing Peeves to cause a distraction and stop that woman from finding Luna and her new friends.

While Myrtle was happy they had remained safe, and driven that woman from the castle, she was also worried about them, well Luna anyways. Should the worst happen to Harry she was still perfectly happy to share her haunt with him.

She didn't even know what her friend was doing; just that Luna had gone with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger to somehow try and kill He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. And since Myrtle could go no further than the edge of the grounds she had been useless to her friend.

Even haunting the prefects' bath had lost its appeal as most of the best looking ones had left Hogwarts and Britain altogether. She was broken from her thoughts by the sound of several people entering the bathroom. Odd, since it was the middle of a week day.

She floated above the students, curious as to why they had rushed in and were hiding in a corner. The boy, Neville Longbottom checked that they were alone. Though he never bothered to look up, no one ever did. The girl, Ginny, one of Luna's friends pulled a small mirror from her pocket.

Myrtle was shocked to hear Luna's voice from it. "Ginny! Finally. We need you to get the Sword of Gryffindor from Dumbledore's office. You can use the_ room_ to make a door and bypass whatever he has guarding it."

"You want us to break into the Headmaster's office and steal a sword?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, don't let Dumbledore catch you either, we can't trust him anymore." Luna said before she vanished from the mirror.

Ginny and Neville traded determined looks before they hurried from the privacy of the prefects' bath. Myrtle frowned. How to help her friend?

0-0

Dumbledore was strolling to his office as he decided what to do about his wayward students. Granger and Lovegood didn't matter but Harry; he was an important piece of the game. His thoughts were interrupted by Moaning Myrtle as she rushed down the corridor, clearly distraught. "Headmaster!"

"Hello Myrtle, I'm sorry but I don't have time to chat right now." Dumbledore said, he really didn't want to listen to her complain about someone insulting her again. Or throwing things into her toilet.

"But sir, Harry Potter is hurt!"

"What?!" Dumbledore cried.

"He snuck back into the school and meet with Draco Malfoy in the prefects' bath. Malfoy hurt him badly! Please sir you have to help!" Myrtle pleaded. Before she had even finished the Headmaster was running to the prefects' bath.

Myrtle smiled and floated away. That would buy them enough time to get the sword. Even if her friends didn't know it she'd watch after them.

0-0

(A/N2: Thank you for reading.)


	3. The Dragon

Disclaimer: If I owned it would I really tell you?

The Dragon

Harry sat in the corner of the Gryffindor common room and stared at the parchment in front of him. He was still two inches short on the six inch essay Professor Flitwick had assigned on the cheering charm. The charms book hadn't been much help as it only described the wand movements and effect; Harry hadn't even been able to find out much about the charms uses from the normal textbooks.

Half an hour later Harry had managed only one more line, but he had been forced to cross out two others because they were basically repeats of what he had already said. They never would have survived Hermione's check. Speaking of, Harry turned as Hermione hurried into the common room, a pile of parchments clutched to her chest.

As soon as she spotted him she rushed over and dropped the parchment just as it began to tumble from her hands. She huffed as several scrolls rolled off the table and she was forced to crawl along the floor to retrieve them.

Harry start to grab the ones close to the edge and shove them back. He was surprised to find among the parchment a muggle notebook that did not contain notes for class but dialog from a story.

Before Harry could read any of it Hermione had snatched the notebook back. "I'll thank you not to go snooping through my things Harry."

"Sorry." Harry said sheepishly and hunched over in his chair. "I was just surprised to see something not school related in you stack."

"If you must know I decided I'd like to, well try writing a book." Hermione admitted.

"In all your free time?" Harry asked with a glance at all the essays she had from her extra classes.

"I'm making time for it." Hermione shot back.

Harry held up his hands in defeat. "I didn't mean anything by it honest."

Hermione flopped into the chair opposite Harry. "I know I'm just a bit overwhelmed at the moment. It'll get better once I finish working out a proper schedule."

"Not to add to your busy schedule but do you know anything else about the cheering charm? I'm still two inches short." Harry asked.

"Let me see what you have." Hermione stuck out her hand. Harry did as he was told and handed over his essay. Hermione looked it over before she crossed out another sentence. She frowned as she read the short essay again. "I'll be right back."

Hermione rushed up the steps to the girl's rooms. A minute later she came back down with a large book and handed it to him. "There is a section on the uses for the cheering charm in chapter twelve."

"Thanks Hermione." Harry said. He flipped to the correct chapter and began to read as Hermione started work on one of her own essays. The cheering charm, Harry learned, had more uses than he had thought. An overpowered cheering charm had been used to win several historical duels, as a torture curse and even by healers to subdue patients who they didn't want to stun. Though that use had fallen out of practice as other, better charms took its place.

0-0

Harry covered in his invisibility cloak moved down the stairs to the common room. He knew he shouldn't be sneaking around at night, especially when Sirius Black had managed to break in just weeks before. But he'd seen a strange creature out on the grounds and he was determined to figure out what it was.

All thoughts of the creature vanished when he reached the common room and found Hermione sitting by a window, scribbling furiously in her notebook. He crept back up the stairs, removed his invisibility cloak and returned to the common room. He didn't want to answer any questions about what he had been doing. "Hermione?"

She spun, her wand half raised to fire a curse before she realized who had disturbed her. "Harry, you frightened me!"

"Sorry. I couldn't sleep and thought a change of scenery might help. What are you doing down here?" Harry easily lied why he had come down.

"I took a nap after dinner and it's thrown off my sleep schedule." Hermione said as she turned back to her notebook.

Harry frowned. After dinner Hermione had corrected his and Ron's potion essays. But considering that he had just lied to her Harry didn't feel that he should call her on it. Instead he sat by her. "Still working on your book?"

Hermione nodded. They made small talk for a bit before harry excused himself. After he left Hermione turned and looked out the window. The sky was cloudy; she saw a shadow pass over the moon. Every year something had happened and she had nearly died. A troll, Voldemort, Fluffy, the basilisk, and now Sirius Black. Her luck couldn't last forever but she still had too much to do. Absently she touched the chain of her time-tuner. She needed more time, still so much to do.

0-0

Hermione woke with a jerk as the first light of day touched her face. She'd fallen asleep in the common room. She chastised herself, it was stupid. Sirius Black had already gotten in once, he could do it again and she had just been sleeping out in the open. Anyone could have found her!

She got up and a blanket fell to the ground, Hermione knew she hadn't had it when she fell asleep, someone _had_ found her. She needed to know who. Had she gone back and done it herself? Had she stopped someone from attacking her while she had been sleep? She had to know.

There were several couches along the far wall of the common room, Hermione crouched behind them. She made sure no one was around, then took out her time-turner and went back several hours to the last time she remembered being awake.

The room grew dark as night reasserted itself. She peeked out and saw herself still by the window. She watched her slightly younger self write. She watched as her head started to droop, snap back up and continue to write. Finally after an hour Hermione saw herself fall asleep. Several minutes later Harry appeared from under his invisibility cloak.

She was shocked and almost jumped out to demand to know why he had been spying on her. But that would have involved answering why there were two of her. Instead she kept watching as Harry disappeared up the stairs and returned with a blanket that he draped over her. Harry watched her for a minute before he returned to the stairs.

Hermione kept watch as her younger self slept. As she watched she also made a list of things she had to work on immediately. She needed to find spells she could use to protect herself while she slept; she needed to find a way to tell if someone was nearby even if they were hidden. Just because Harry hadn't done anything didn't mean someone like Sirius Black couldn't use the same method. But she needed to figure out a way to tell if it was herself nearby or someone else. But what if someone used ployjuice to look like her?

Questions swirled in her mind as she wrote out the new list. When the sky started to lighten she moved back up to her dorm to get ready, and to make sure her younger self didn't accidently find her. For the rest of the day she jumped at any small noise. She had never realized how careless she was.

0-0

Harry and Ron walked towards the great hall. Harry was trying to convince Ron that Hermione was burning herself out. The day before he'd found no less than twenty seven different projects on the table she was using. Everything from class assignments to the book she was writing to research about dragons. Ron just shook his head at Harry's concern. "Mate, she's always been mental about studying. Leave her alone. If she burns out, well good for her, she could use a break. Maybe it'll calm her down some."

"Ron that's an awful thing to…" They turned a corner and found Hermione staring down the empty hall. Harry glanced at Ron who just shrugged and made a motion for Harry to go check on her. He approached her slowly. "Hermione?"

"I just saw a dragon." Hermione said in a stunned voice.

"What?" Ron asked shocked, he grabbed his hand where Norbert had bitten him in his first year.

Hermione shook her head. "I, I must have been mistaken. There is no way a dragon would be here."

"Hermione." Harry said in concern.

"Let's go get dinner." Hermione suddenly said and grabbed their hands. She didn't want to try an explain anything to them. She didn't want them to bring her momentary lapse to the attention of a professor either. They'd take her time-turner and she still had so much to do.

She knew she could distract Ron with food. Harry wouldn't be as easy but she'd figure something out.

0-0

"Hermione? Hermione!" Harry had to shout to get her attention from her transfiguration essay.

"Oh, sorry Harry." She said absently.

"Hermione, look at me." Harry said. When she did he sighed. "It looks like you haven't slept in days."

"I have. Just not well." Hermione admitted.

"Have you talked to…" Harry began.

"No!" Hermione shook her head violently, he wild hair flying around her head. "If I did they might make me drop a class."

"Would that be so bad? It looks like you're about to fall over dead." Harry said with concern.

Being forced to drop a class was no longer a real concern to Hermione. It was having her time-turner taken away. She was sure she had caught a glimpse of the dragon twice in the recent weeks. She had even used the time-turner to set up an ambush down the corridor from where she had seen its tail the day before but it had somehow evaded her.

Hermione knew she should tell a professor but without proof they wouldn't believe her. They'd take her time-turner and then the dragon would be able to pick her off and get Harry. She was sure it had been sent by Sirius Black, who else could have managed to sneak a dragon into the school. A small dragon, but still.

"Hermione?" Harry tried to get her attention again.

"What?"

"I asked if dropping a class would be so bad." Harry said.

"Can we just stop talking about it?" Hermione asked.

"Alright." Harry said. "_If_ you take a nap. There are still four hours till dinner."

"Right here in the common room?" Hermione asked. She couldn't put up any of the protection charms she knew down here. They'd ask too many questions.

"Here or in your bed." Harry answered.

She couldn't go up to her dorm, she had all of her work spread out on the table and she'd have to clean it up before she could leave. That would take too long, she needed an excuse. "I need to finish this essay."

Harry snatched the essay from her before she could react. "This looks fine to me."

"No, I'm sure I reversed the seventh step and my penmanship could be better in the third paragraph…"

"Hermione, if you search for imperfections, you'll find them. This is fine and you need sleep."

"But…"

"But?" Harry prompted.

Hermione knew she couldn't say she was worried about a dragon. But maybe something more believable? "I've been afraid of Sirius Black showing up again while I'm asleep."

Harry's face fell. She felt bad about using his emotions like that but if he felt guilty maybe he'd drop the subject. "Alright. You take a nap and I'll make sure Sirius Black doesn't show up."

There was no way Harry could beat Sirius Black in a fight. They both knew it but Hermione felt bad enough as it was so she agreed. She lay on the couch and stuck her feet behind Harry to keep them warm. To her surprise she was asleep in moments.

0-0

Hermione peeked around the corner and saw Harry and herself of three hours ago walking towards breakfast. She had begun to use her time-turner more and more over the last month to follow Harry and herself. She had decided that she owed it to him as he had spent a good deal of time guarding her while she napped in the afternoons. She had found it was the only time she could truly relax. She had still had no luck finding the dragon, never catching more than a glimpse of it from the corner of her eye. But she would make sure it didn't get Harry.

The hardest part of her increased use of the time-turner was keeping Harry from noticing.

0-0

Hermione frowned as she walked to breakfast to meet Harry. The previous night they had freed Sirius Black who was innocent. It made sense, she'd seen Pettigrew, but when she had mentioned the dragon Sirius had just given her a confused look. So it hadn't been sent by him. She had been so focused on Sirius being behind it though she hadn't thought of any other suspects.

Then she saw Draco entering the great hall. Of course, his name meant dragon, his father was a Death Eater. He had to be behind it!

0-0

Harry crept through St. Mungo's under his invisibility cloak. It had been almost a month since Hermione had had her breakdown and been taken away. She'd come in to the great hall firing curses. There hadn't been many students at breakfast yet, and only Professor Sprout at the head table. The professor had been hit by a stray curse at the start.

Harry had tried to get her to stop but Hermione just kept screaming about a dragon and Malfoy. He didn't want to hurt her but she was going to hurt someone else or herself soon so he had hit her with an overpowered cheering charm.

She had been laughing too hard to continue casting. Harry had tried to visit her later in the hospital wing to apologize but was told she had been moved to St. Mungo's for a stress related breakdown.

He had spent the rest of the time before he left Hogwarts worrying about her. It wasn't until he was home that he had gotten a visit from Hermione's parents trying to find out what had happened and learned that they hadn't been told anything about the incident. Hogwarts had only sent a note saying Hermione had a breakdown and would not be returning home.

Harry had told the Grangers what he knew and had gone to St. Mungo's to try and find more information for them since they said muggles weren't allowed unless being treated. He had been enraged to learn that because Hermione was a muggleborn their treatment was to dose her on calming potions for a few years until she wasted away. They had even refused to let him see her without his magical guardian's permission, whoever that was.

At a loss for what to do Harry had contacted Sirius and they had quickly worked out a crude plan. Sirius had taken a risk and contacted the Canadian Ministry of Magic, after a short investigation that involved memories and truth potions he was offered sanctuary until a full investigation was completed. They had also said, after some prompting from Sirius that should the Grangers show up in their country they would be given protection.

Now Harry just needed to get Hermione to her parents. It had been easy to sneak into the magical hospital and find out what room Hermione was in. She was at the far end of the ground floor in the artefact accident ward. He had only needed to hide from a single healer as he made his way to her room.

What Harry saw broke his heart. Hermione sat in the middle of her bed, legs pulled to her chest. Moonlight streamed through the window and illuminated her thin frame and tangled limp hair. She looked awful.

Harry couldn't stop himself from calling out to her. "Hermione."

Her head jerked up, dull eyes looked over the room. Harry pulled off his invisibility cloak and saw a brief spark in her eyes. "Harry?"

"Yeah, come on, we need to get you out of here, your parents are waiting." Harry said. He tried to pull her off the bed but she resisted.

"Why?" she asked weakly. "No one came before. Not them, not you."

"They won't let muggles in and wouldn't let me see you. I've helping your parents set things up so we can get you out of here." Harry explained gently.

"We're leaving?"

"Yes." Harry said.

Hermione nodded before she collapsed against him. That was going to make it more difficult to get her out.

0-0

Dan Granger sat behind the wheel of a rented car and waited for Harry to return with his daughter. He couldn't believe how irresponsible Hogwarts had been, they'd given his daughter a deceive to play around with time and not bothered to warn her that extended use could cause any number of mental problems. The Canadian Ministry was apparently appalled about it and promised treatment to help her recover.

The backdoor opened and Harry stumbled in, his invisibility cloak falling off as he settled Hermione into a seat. "Got her, go."

0-0

(A/N: My prompts for this chapter were the quote 'If you search for imperfections, you'll find them', a dragon and the poem _'When I Have Fears'_ by John Keats, as well as the characters dealing with a mental illness. I decided to have the mental illness be a result of Hermione using the time-turner, I used the dragon as a representation of her growing paranoia and stress, and the poem inspired Hermione's actions as well as her dealings with Harry.)

(A/N2: For anyone waiting for the next chapter of Tempest of the Fae it will be delayed as I recover from a hand injury. Just typing this little bit has caused a good deal of pain. I hope to be back on schedule soon.)


	4. Birth of Death

Disclaimer: My house belongs to the bank, my work belongs to my boss, Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and this disclaimer belongs to DerLaCroix.

Birth of Death

0-0

I really buggered it up this time. Leading my friends into a trap to save Sirius, who wasn't even here, was bad enough. But now we were being chased through the Department of Mystery by a dozen Death Eaters with no idea where we were going. A curse streaked over my shoulder and tore into the corridor's wall.

Hermione was ahead of me and dove for cover in an alcove. I stumbled over a chunk of masonry. More curses crossed the spot my back had been. I crawled for another alcove, my feet sliding in the pulverized stone from the wall.

I managed to pull myself behind the half destroyed wall. The Death Eater's laughter echoed down the corridor. I inched my wand around the corner and blindly cast a reducto before I snatched my hand back. A severing curse barely missed my wand.

The curse gouged a deep gash in the floor near my feet. I grabbed my hand to stop it from shaking; that was to close. I glanced at Hermione, she held up three fingers. I nodded and watched as she lowered each one. We both whipped our wands towards whoever was still further down the hall and aimed high.

One of us hit something as there is a strangled scream and no retaliation curses. We broke from our cover and sprinted down the hall. I have no idea where the others had gotten to. We just managed to round the corner before the floor behind us exploded.

0-0

We might actually live through this. That was my first thought as the Order began to appear and engage the Death Eaters. A wave of relief washed over me, I almost collapsed under it. Then a flash of blue drew my attention and I dodged out of the way. I had spoken to soon.

The stone chamber was lit by a dozen different colors as spells filled the air. Somehow they all managed to avoid the giant stone archway in the center of the room. But the black curtain that hung across the arch was rippling violently.

An orange curse scored the stone at my feet. I cast a reducto before I rolled out of the way of a follow up curse. Then I saw Sirius take a red curse to the chest while he taunted Bellatrix Lestrange. I watched him stumble before he fell through the black curtain.

I tried to run over and check on him but Remus grabbed me. "Don't Harry! He's gone."

"What do you mean gone?" I shouted over the fighting. Sirius had only fall through the curtain, I'd already seen the other side. There was nothing there to hurt him unless he rolled down the rough stone steps.

"Poor, poor…Potter." The icy voice drew a halt to the fighting. The Order members trembled as the Death Eaters fell to their knees, their master walked into the chamber. "This device is known as the Veil of Death. Anything that passes through it is lost forever."

Voldemort stopped at the foot of the steps. "As one who has transcended death I have nothing to be concerned of, but the rest of your little band of heroes… Well I think we should begin to throw them in one by one.

"That is unless you give me that orb, Potter. Or do you want your friends to end up like your precious godfather?"

Bellatrix began to laugh. I looked around at the order. _Sirius was dead?_ They were shaking; some looked to be trying to apparate away. _Sirius was dead_. They'd stopped fighting just because Voldemort had shown up. _Sirius was dead_. I'd faced him again and again, untrained. They were of age and members of the Order. _Sirius was dead_. But they weren't even trying to fight back. _Sirius was dead_. Because Voldemort wanted the stupid orb! _Sirius was dead!_

I brought my wand up and fired a reducto with everything I could muster. Only Remus's arms kept me from toppling over as a rush of exhaustion hit me.

Voldemort lazily raised his own wand and cast a shield. Which utterly failed. He was blown back by the force of my spell impacting his shield. Straight into the Veil of Death. For half a moment I hoped that would be the end of him. I really shouldn't have expected to be that lucky.

With a thunderous crack Voldemort hit the Veil and stopped, his body suspended in the air between the arches pillars. His mouth opened in a silent scream as he jerked and twitched. It was as if he had been thrown against an electric fence. His pale skin began to blacken and smolder, strips of embers rolled across his body as burning chunks fell to the floor.

The Death Eaters watched, horrified as their master was consumed by the process until only a blacken skeleton remained. There was no noise, no smell. Everything else had stopped.

Then the arch cracked. The aged stone gave way and crumbled. Large blocks fell to the ground with muted thuds. Voldemort's charred remains fell to the floor and the Order fled. I watched in shock as the Veil fluttered down over his body. I didn't feel any triumph or joy. I was empty, Voldemort was gone but it had cost me Sirius.

Someone grabbed my arm and tried to pull me from the chamber as it began to shake. The Death Eaters stared at the remnants of the arch in disbelief. Something under the fallen Veil twitched. It couldn't be Voldemort I told myself. It didn't matter what he had done, nothing could survive what I had just witnessed.

But the crumpled, smoky fabric seemed to inflate as something under it stood. The Veil moved to shroud the figure as it rose past the height of a person. Until, still hunched over, it towered above the rest of us.

"Master?" Bellatrix called out hopefully.

The figure's head, still cloaked in the veil turned to face her. "Bella… Come…"

The voice was a rasping whisper but she hurried to obey. "Yes Master! Death truly has no hold over you!"

Bellatrix fell to her knees before the figure. It leaned over her for several seconds before a pair of burned skeletal hands shot out and seized her. She let out a shriek as it lifted her towards its hood. Her head disappeared under into its cloak. A wet crunch and her struggling stopped.

The figure's cloak rippled as the rest of Bellatrix disappeared into it.

Malfoy was the first of the Death Eaters to try and escape. "Run… Run you fools!"

He almost made it to one of the chamber's exits before the figure lunged into the air and fell towards him. The cloaked figure collapsed upon Malfoy. He vanished into the swirling mass of smoky fabric, for a brief moment the Veil lay flat upon the ground before it once again rose to form the figure.

I joined the stamped for one of the exits. I saw a woman from the Order pulling Hermione towards another door, but my other friends were lost in the rush to flee. As I reached a corridor I heard the figure's rasping voice. "Pot…er…"

I ran.

The corridors of the Department of Mystery blurred together, becoming some kind of twisted fun house. I ran through room after room looking for my friends, for a way out. I crossed paths with several Order members and Death Eaters alike but they were blind to me. It seemed that no one could find the lift out of the department.

The Department of Mystery was much larger than I had thought. How we made it to the Hall of Prophecy without getting lost was itself a mystery. I had just passed through a long room lined with nothing but twisted masks mounted to the wall. My breath was coming in dry gasps; I slowed my mad dash as I entered another large room.

It was several floors deep; I stood on a small walkway five stories above the black marble floor. A dry fountain sat in the middle of the room, choked by dead vines. More walkways lined the walls; they must have gone all the way up to the top of the Ministry.

"Pot… er…" The rasping voice called out. The figure that had once been Voldemort lumbered into the room on the ground floor. The feeling as it entered the room was both similar to, and completely different, from a dementor. It felt like someone had a wand to my back, ready to cast any number of horrible curses on me. "Pot…er… Pot…er…"

I froze. I didn't dare breathe in case I attracted the figure's attention. Across the room the sound of scratching drew my attention. The figure bent down, then leapt to the side. It crashed into the fourth floor walkway and crumpled before it righted itself. Hunched almost in half in the confined space.

Something scurried away from it. The figure took a deep, rattling breath. Something shifted near the wall and Peter Pettigrew appeared, crawling along the floor. He rolled over and held up his hands. "No! Please! I've always been loyal! I found you when no one else could!"

The figure shuffled forwards. "Worm…tail… Your arm."

Wormtail nodded franticly as he held out his marked arm. The figure shook its head. "Your… other… arm…"

Hesitantly Wormtail held out the silver skeletal arm. The figure seized it, and in a single motion ripped it from Wormtail and flung it to the floor. Wormtail only had a moment to cry out before the figure collapsed on him. The cloak rippled as Wormtail was pulled into it.

I moved backwards a quickly as I could, never taking my eyes from the figure. Cold sweat soaked my clothing as I ran back through the room of masks.

I couldn't find anyone else. Before every few corridors or rooms I passed through I saw someone. Now they were all empty. My chest tightened. Had that thing eaten them like it did Bellatrix and Wormtail?

An inhuman scream ripped through the building. The wall lamps flickered and dimmed, the floor shook. Doors flew open and slammed shut. I fell to my knees as the sound gripped me. Somewhere in my mind I understood that it was the sound of challenge. Of a predator to its prey. And of rage at being injured.

When the sound stopped I was able to take a shaking breath and swallowed it painfully. My weary muscles protested as I climbed back to my feet and stumbled down the hall. I thought I recognized where I was, close to the lift that could take me back up to the Ministry.

But would that thing follow me out?

Something Luna had told me before the last DA meeting popped into my head. 'Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.' Of course at the time she had been talking to me about salads.

I knew I should escape if I could. But my gut told me if I did that thing would follow me. At least down here I might be able to catch it. There had to be something in this place that could contain it. I gave a deep sigh as I realized I had already made up my mind. Damn my saving people thing.

I found what I thought was a solution two corridors over. At the end of the hall was a thick metal door. Four massive deadbolts would seal it once it was closed. As luck would have it the door stood open, along with the rest in that corridor.

A quick peek inside showed the room was mostly empty. There were a few tables with parchment scattered over them, a couple of stone tablets stood in the corner and in the center was a fountain. Made of plain unadorned marble it almost looked to ordinary to be in such a place. It was filled with a sweet smelling, pearly liquid. Pastel colored smoke rose from the liquid as it trickled along.

There were no other exits to the room. This would have to do. Now how to get that thing here? Who am I kidding? I just need to stand around for a few minutes and it will show up to kill me. But I might as well help things along a bit. I walked to the door and took a deep breath, then another to put it off for a few more moments. This was a stupid idea. Maybe my friends had managed to get out already?

I shouted down the corridor before I lost my nerve. "Riddle! You half-blood bastard son of a muggle! Come get me!"

Oh yes, this was a wonderful idea. What were the chances of it even working? My stomach tightened as a painful chill spread down my back. The thought that I might never see my friends again crippled, I pushed that thought away. I focused on the other end of the corridor to such a degree that I had to work to relaxing my muscles or risk seizing up.

"Pot…er…" The rasping voice echoed from the distance. The lights at the end of the corridor dimmed. Something moved within the shadows. "Pot…er… Pot…er… Pathetic… Puny…. Pot…er…"

The figure stepped from the shadows, hunched over, its cloak bulged and rippled, lumpy and uneven. I stepped back into the room until I reached the fountain. The figure shuffled forward, it leaned towards its left side. Oily black sludge fell from under its cloak.

It felt like my heart would simultaneously stop and burst from my chest as the figure approached. Oh Merlin this plan sucked. The figure took a long shuddering breath. I could almost see beneath its hood, deep, formless shadows. Somehow everything became worse. It was going to kill me. I should just give up. If it didn't Fudge would have me kissed. If he didn't that itch I had on my leg was probably some poisonous insect bite that would kill me slowly. My friends were dead. Or they hated me. Everything was set against me.

The figure launched itself down the corridor, twisting and spinning like a bullet. I managed to dive to the side as it flew into the room and crashed through the fountain. I was halfway to my feet when it screamed. The noise was unimaginably worse up close, but lasted only a moment. The cloaked figure withered and smoked. Whatever had been in the fountain burned it like acid. I crawled for the door as it struggled.

I grabbed the door and started to drag it closed as the figure clawed its way towards me. Blackened finger bones dug into the stone floor. Its voice raw. "Pot…er…"

The door settled into its frame and I forced the deadbolts into place. I gasped for breath through my dry throat. The door shook as it was struck from the other side. Again and again, each strike stronger than the last until it groaned against its hinges.

Then that thing screamed again. Long and deep. I fell to my knees shivering. The bolts began to move and free the door. I struggled up and grabbed them, using my weight to hold the deadbolts as they shook. By the time the unearthly noise ended I was hanging on the door for support.

I could still hear it within, but the scream had changed to a strangled gurgle. The door was struck again and again, but they were growing weaker now. Darkness ate at the edge of my vision. The last thing I saw were robbed figures rushing down the hall towards me. I managed to croak out a warning before I slumped to the floor. "Don't open…"

0-0

I knew it was a vision. It started out like the others but instead of the Hall of Prophecy I was walking towards the thick metal door. My feet refused to stop; my arm came up and undid the heavy lock that had been placed over the door. It swung open silently. The figure stood on the other side. "Pot…er…"

0-0

(A/N: For this round I got the emotion of scared, along with (style) first-person POV, (word) burst, and (quote) 'Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you' - Roger Ebert. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.)


	5. Revenge

Disclaimer: The Birds of Death have informed me that I do not, in fact, own Harry Potter. I apologize for the confusion.

Revenge

0-0

It was a gloomy Scottish day as Cedric trudged back up the path to Hogwarts from the village. He had borrowed an expandable bag from a fifth year to make sure he'd be able to carry everything. Hufflepuff had a system in place where first and second year students could request items, such as candy or the more harmless items from Zonko's Joke Shop and a student from one of the older years would pick them up.

Since he didn't have much else to do, because his friends Michael and Geoff had both gotten detentions, Cedric had volunteered to be the pack mule for this trip. Although he'd taken care of his own shopping while he was in Hogsmeade, he'd also picked up a box of chocolates for Ginny Weasley and a new set of oil paints for Luna Lovegood. Cedric had double-checked to make sure this set could be cleaned off if it got on fabric. He really didn't want a repeat of the drapery incident.

Cedric suppressed a shiver. Luna's mum had been frightening when she wanted to be. He felt a bit bad that neither Ginny nor Luna would be able to attend Hogwarts until the following year. Hopefully his gifts would help hold them over until then.

There was also a large order of meat for a sixth year who was trying to get by the Cerberus on the third floor.

As Cedric reached the school, he glanced towards the Quidditch pitch and saw two figures in red robes flying over the field. He had seen Wood and the Gryffindor Chasers in Hogsmeade, so these had to be Fred and George, who had lost their Hogsmeade privileges after a small Potions fire. He paused, and after he was sure no one was watching he hurried towards the Quidditch pitch. Cedric hadn't forgotten how Fred and George Weasley had treated him on his first ride on the Hogwarts Express. He might owe their brother Charlie, and he might consider their sister Ginny a friend, but he wasn't about to let them off the hook without a bit of payback. It had taken a long time to get his Transfiguration up to the level he needed, and almost as long to find the charms he wanted. But this would be the perfect opportunity to demonstrate why it wasn't a good idea to go and poke a badger. He made sure Harry Potter, Gryffindor's new Seeker, wasn't with them. He didn't want to scare the kid before their match.

Cedric took out several pieces of parchment; he had discovered that if he folded them into a rough triangle he could transfigure them into bird easier. Once he had several ravens he used a charm to increase their size until they each stood three feet tall. Another charm caused their eyes to glow red and a third made green mist roll around them. The final charm would play the 'Flight of the Valkyries' as they flew.

His birds ready, Cedric gave them their marching orders. Each bird shot into the air and circled a moment before they turned towards the Quidditch pitch.

0-0

Fred Weasley sat on his broom as he waited for his twin brother to hit the Bludger back to him. Normally they wouldn't have let a little thing like not being allowed to go to Hogsmeade stop them from going to Hogsmeade. But they'd decided that they should remain visible for the day. They could always sneak away next week.

George let the Bludger pass him by though instead of hitting it back. "What the bloody hell?"

Fred turned around to find half a dozen vulture sized birds flying towards them, their red eyes glowing while green smoke rolled off their wings. As he dodged the first that tried to ram him he could hear some music playing.

As the next flew by he brought his beater bat down on it, only for the bird to turn into confetti. Between the two of them they made quick work of the birds and landed on the pitch. "Who do you think did it?"

George picked up one of the pieces of parchment. "Read it."

_How do you like these birds of death?_

Fred tried to remember why that sounded familiar. "Percy! We released some birds of death on him our first year didn't we?"

"Yeah, just after Cedric came into the compartment. I can't believe he made us think…"

"That he was some stuffy…"

"Bookworm when really…"

"He's a pranking geniuses! Come on, let's go plan how we'll officially welcome him into our circle."

0-0

Cedric sat in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom as he waited for his turn to take their final exam. Fred Weasley had just entered the room where Professor Quirrell waited with their last test, a boggart. When Fred came back out, George stepped in. Fred took a seat as he waited for his brother. The rest of the class had already finished and left. There were several moments of silence before Fred spoke up. "Hey Cedric?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember our first ride on the Hogwarts Express?"

"Let's see, you and George attacked your brother Percy with paper airplanes and then called me a wet blanket." Cedric answered.

"Right, well, see… a few weeks back something… odd… happened. At first we thought Percy had finally grown a pair, but it turns out he had no idea what was going on." Fred explained.

"He's not the only one." Cedric said, trying not to act nervous.

"Anyway, the only other person who knew about our little birds of death stunt was you. So…" Fred was interrupted by George exiting the testing room. Cedric hurriedly stood and went in before the twins could pull anything. There was a heavy wooden box set again the far wall with a thick deadbolt holding it shut. Something within struck the wood with enough force to make it groan.

"G-g-good day Mr. D-Diggory." Professor Quirrell said.

"Good day Professor." Cedric said politely.

"When you are r-r-ready." Quirrell said.

Cedric raised his wand and nodded. Quirrell made a gesture with his own and the deadbolt slid away. A giant snake charged out of the box. It looked at Cedric before it opened its mouth and a woman's head appeared and began to screech at him about his appearance and grades. "_Riddikulus_!"

The woman's head fell from the snake's mouth and bounced twice before it spun around then and berated the serpent for its poor oral hygiene. Professor Quirrell watched for several moments before he forced the boggart back into its box. "That w-w-was…er…"

"I don't do well with snakes." Cedric offered.

"And the w-woman?"

"The Weasleys' Aunt Muriel." Cedric admitted. He'd met her once, years ago, and it was enough to give him nightmares. "Not sure why they combined like that."

"Er… yes, well. You p-pass. You m-might also w-w-want t-to see a mind h-healer 'bout t-that." Professor Quirrell said.

Cedric nodded embarrassed and hurried from the room. Only to find both the Weasley twins waiting for him. "We know you were behind those things that attacked us on the Quidditch pitch…"

"Nice work but we can't let it stand." The second said and he lit a firework they'd set on the ground. It spun and shot red spark around the room as it jumped towards Cedric.

With a yelp, Cedric jumped out of the way. The firework bounced along the floor, gaining height, whistling like a banshee. Quirrell stuck his head out the door. "What is that nois… Ahh!"

The firework bounced off Quirrell's head, setting his turban on fire. He screamed as a jet of water failed to put out the fire and ran from the room. Cedric and the twins watched in shock. "You set our Defense professor on fire."

"Mum is going to wring our necks for that." One of them said.

"Hey Cedric, mate, how about you show us those charms you used for your birds of death. Maybe we can convince mum they carried us off or something." The other said.

0-0

"So because Professor Quirrell disappeared before he could tell anyone what we did…"

"It looks like we'll get off…"

"Without anyone finding out what happened." Fred finished telling Lee Jordan about their exam as the Hogwarts Express sped towards London.

"You two are so lucky." Lee said with a shake of his head.

"They aren't that lucky." Cedric said as he opened the door to their compartment. "Since I saw them set the professor on fire, well it would be a shame if I accidentally mentioned that to their mum…"

"What do…"

"You want?"

"Well…" Cedric decided he'd milk his silence for all it was worth.

0-0

(A/N: For this round we had to write about a character, my team's character was Cedric, with each player taking a different year. I got Cedric's third year, which was Harry's first. The prompts I picked were the setting of an exam, the creature Boggart and the phrase 'I don't do well with snakes'. I hope everyone enjoy this story. Thank you for reading.)


	6. Death Rides the Highlands

Disclaimer: I own Dirt Poor Dan and nothing else.

Death Rides the Highlands

0-0

Harry grumbled as he and Hermione walked through Hogsmeade. "He doesn't even teach potions anymore so why was he brewing in the classroom if this wasn't his plan all along."

"Harry do you realize just how ridiculous that sounds?" Hermione asked, exasperated with her friend.

"Just listen; doesn't it seem at all suspicious that Snape was brewing a potion in the Defense classroom instead of anywhere else? That he just happened to decide to spring a 'surprise exam' on us by casting the disarming hex at me, and that my wand just happened to fly into his potion?" Harry asked.

"Well yes, I admit taken together it does sound a bit odd, especially that he was brewing in the classroom but really, you think Snape concocted some secret plan just to turn your wand silver? There would be no reason for it. Maybe, maybe I would believe that if the potion had somehow damaged your wand. But it still works fine." Hermione pointed out.

"But it looks silly." Harry complained. The color changing potion Snape had been brewing had turned Harry's wand a deep silver color and made it sparkle. That wasn't right!

"I'm sure we'll be able to find a shop that can fix it up for you. And if not than you will just have to get used to using a silver wand until you can go to Ollivander's shop." Hermione said briskly.

Three hours later and they had not found anyone who could help return Harry's wand to normal. Though Harry had bought himself a wide brimmed black hat. Something Hermione had trouble accepting. "I still can't believe you bought that hat, Harry."

"Hey I happen to like it, thank you very much. It makes me look rugged." Harry said.

"You look silly, not rugged." Hermione said.

"I'm an Idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way." Harry quoted the sign that had hung over the hat display.

"To being rugged?" Hermione asked.

"Yes." Harry said.

"Then you know exactly where you are going. Or at least where you would like to go." Hermione pointed out.

"That's not the concern of an idealist." Harry waved her off with an exaggerated gesture.

Hermione just shook her head as Harry reaffirmed her belief that the longer one was exposed to magic the stranger they became. She dreaded the day those effects finally reached her.

As they passed under the Hogsmeade clock tower a dozen pops and screams announced an attack. The Death Eaters had expected to make a quick attack, kill some people, maybe steal a few nice things they wanted, and then escape. They hadn't expected several of their victims to actually fight back. Quickly both side found themselves pinned down behind whatever cover they could find.

The Death Eaters were a ragtag bunch of new recruits, none overly powerful in any type of offensive magic or planning. One had suggested they raid Hogsmeade and the others agreed. No planning, no escape route if things went wrong, which they did. And not a portkey between them.

It didn't take Harry long to realize the two groups were in a stalemate, he knew he needed a way to break it, he just wasn't sure how. Until he happened to glance up at the clock tower as it struck noon. It wasn't difficult to find his way to the top, there was a side door on the building marked as _Tower Stairs_. A minute later he was high enough to see several of the Death Eaters. A dozen spells later and the Death Eaters were sprawled out across the street.

The few that remained decided that it was time to flee, only to find that someone had placed a wide range anti-apparition jinx around the village. Those that hadn't already fallen ran as fast as their feet could carry them.

Mark reached the edge of the village and looked around for any of his fellow Death Eaters, or more children. He found he had developed a sudden fear of children, they weren't nice.

Another Death Eater emerged nearby, dragging a bound girl that Mark recognized as Granger. There was a standing order to capture her if possible, or kill her if it wasn't. "Well at least this wasn't a complete failure. Where is Billy?"

"I don't want to talk about it." The second Death Eater, Danny said.

"And Tim? Johnny Two Legs? O'Hairy?" Mark asked as he realized none of the other Death Eaters that had been with Danny were there.

"I said I don't want to talk about it! And most of them are going to need new names if they live. Let's just go." Danny huffed as he dropped Hermione to the ground.

"Don't worries, I's got just the thing to get us past these wards, eh jinxes." Mark began to conjure two horses for them.

Danny looked skeptical. "You expect us to ride out of here?"

"Sure, it's easy. I grew up on a farm an all. 'Sides I can only conjure horses and sheep."

"Why conjure sheep?" Danny asked.

"Never mind, stick the girl on and let's go before any more kids show up." Mark said. Danny used three sticking charms to make sure she wouldn't fall off.

0-0

Harry stayed at the top of the clock tower and picked off several more Death Eaters as they scattered around the village. They hadn't even bothered to send a single return curse. As the action began to die down Harry spotted a Death Eater dragging someone else towards the edge of the village. Then another Death Eater conjured two horses for them.

He was trying to figure out what to do, the Death Eaters were well beyond the range of his spells, when he saw a thestral on the roof next to the clock tower. Not one to look a gift thestral in the mouth Harry scrambled down and climbed onto its back. Without a word it leapt into the air, its bat like wings spread to either side.

The forest was too thick to see the ground from above the trees so Harry urged the creature down. Among the trees they could just make out the Death Eater's horses, chasing them through the woods wasn't difficult. But as they were forced to weave among the trees Harry never had a clear shot at them.

Then the forest ended. Harry saw the Death Eaters jump a ravine, as he followed them he urged the thestral into the air. His hat flew off as the thestral's wings gave a mighty beat and the lunged into the sky. He cast four stunners.

The two conjured horses broke apart as the stunners hit them; one Death Eater was hit and rolled limply as his horse dissolved. The second one had leaned to the side just in time and hurriedly climbed to his feet as Harry landed. "Back off brat or the girl…"

Danny never finished as Hermione kicked out with her still bound legs and knocked him to the ground. Before the Death Eater could react she brought her legs around again and smashed his face.

Harry was forced to intervene after the third kick. "Hermione… Hermione that's enough!"

Hermione made a motion with her head that Harry interpreted to mean that she wanted him to remove the ropes and gag. He did and she stood rubbing her side. "You have no idea how uncomfortable that was."

"I'm sure Madam Pomfrey can have you fixed up in no time." Harry said as he climbed back onto the thestral. Reluctantly Hermione did as well. She was not in the mood to fly or ride another horse but it was the quickest way to the castle and marginally better than walking.

Aurors came and took away the Death Eaters; none of them noticed the man crouched in the ravine that had seen Harry stop the Death Eaters.

0-0

Edgewood was a small town nestled well beyond reason in the wastelands of New Mexico; it had two notable claims to fame. The first was a gold mine that had never produced an ounce of gold, though the odd gem here or there kept the town going. And a small bar on Main Street that would take trade for drinks.

The walls of the bar were covered in an assortment of odd items, wagon wheels; pick axes, cannons, three shrunken heads and their shrunken bodies, a Momo statue. But behind the bar, where the most treasured items were stored hung an unimposing black hat that had purchased the whole town a round of drinks the night it was added.

Dirt Poor Dan had brought it back from his trip to England a few years before.

"There, I was, taking a stroll around the rocky hills of Scotland, as I tend to do." Dan's like of walking aimlessly in the desert was well known and the source of more than one bet on when he'd die out there. "As I climbed down into a small gully for a drink two men on horses jumped right over the top of me. They were ridding like they'd just robbed the bank, a young lady roped and slung over one of their horses.

"Well turns out it was far worse than that. Cause just as I was about to climb back out another figure leapt over me. He wore all black; his horse was nothing but a black skeleton. As it leapt giant bat wings tore from it and it sored towards the men. Couldn't be non but Death himself.

"Death drew a silver revolver that spat tongues of hell fire at them; their horses must have been ghosts cause when they were shot those creatures just evaporated. I was terrified by now so I kept low and watched as Death jumped from his horse and freed the woman.

"That's when I noticed Death's hat had fallen off him, well others showed up wearing red and took those two men away but no one seemed to notice the hat. So once they were all gone I grabbed it and left as fast as I could." Dirt Poor Dan recounted the story at least once a week.

Not many believed his story until one day a fire behind the bar burned the building. When the hat, undamaged was pulled from the still smoldering rubble they were amazed, when one of them tried to disprove the hat by setting it on fire, and failing miserably they were shocked.

It was quickly decided, after several more attempts to damage the hat, that the best thing to do was remain quiet about the whole thing. Incase Death decided to come looking for his hat. When the bar was rebuilt the hat was placed back behind it on a shelf.

Then one day, many years after he had first brought the hat to the bar Dirt Poor Dan picked it up and put it on. The bartender scoffed at him. "You're tempting Death."

"To die would be an awfully big adventure." Dirt Poor Dan said as he walked out of the bar.

A moment later the bartender ran after him. "Hey! If you're planning to die settle your tab first!"

0-0

(A/N: For this chapter the theme was Western so I decided to poke a bit of fun at several western movies I've seen. The prompts were 'chasing' 'To die would be an awfully big adventure' and 'I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way.' Thank you for reading)


	7. Keep Calm

(Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, just this strange cactus that followed me home, and now sits in a corner growling at me.)

Keep Calm

0-O-0

Harry looked at the small parchment again, written on it were instructions for accessing the Ministry of Magic. He had made arrangements, before he learned that his godfather was innocent and that Fudge was worthless, to come and take a makeup potions exam. He had considered skipping his appointment but he was determined to know how good he was at potions without Snape failing him for no reason every other class.

It hadn't been hard to find out that any student could take make up exams at the Ministry over the summer to improve their grades. Harry wasn't worried that he had failed potions, he had already figured out that Dumbledore wouldn't let Snape outright fail him. Pass by only a point or two sure, but not fail.

Still Harry wanted to know if he had any talent in potions, when Snape wasn't around it was something he enjoyed. Just as when his relatives weren't around he enjoyed cooking. Actually that was a fair comparison for the easier potions, the harder they became the more they sounded like chemistry to him.

There was a slight delay having Harry's wand checked as the guard gave him a wonder filled look and drew far more attention to them than Harry wanted. Once he was finally ushered through it was only a short lift ride down to the level for exams.

To his surprise there were several other students from his year already there. A few gave him curious looks but no one spoke as the proctor stepped in and passed out their written exam. Harry looked over the questions and couldn't help but smile. While Snape was known for slipping in potions from the years above them the Ministry's exam was actual third year material.

_What is the main ingredient, aside from the base, used in weather proofing potions for fabric?_

_Spider leg hair._

_What color should the above mentioned potion be upon completion?_

_Olive._

Harry worked his way through the questions at what he felt was a respectable speed and managed to finish third among the students sitting their potion exam. Once they were done they were directed to a waiting area before their practical exam, Harry began to wish that he had spent longer checking his answers as there were still forty minutes until the written exam ended, unless if everyone finished early, they didn't.

When the group stepped into the practical potion exam they were each randomly assigned a table to work at, each table was exactly the same except for a small card that stated the potion they were to brew. Harry picked his up.

_Calming Draught._

Well that wasn't too complicated, Harry filled his cauldron with the needed water that would serve as a base. He brought it to a boil and added six drops of fluxweed oil. Next he cut up the bloodroot stems and discarded what he wouldn't need. The bloodroot stems would soak in vanilla extract so that it could permeate them before they were crushed, the vanilla would make them softer and stop the side effect of uncontrollable coughing. While he waited for the stems Harry reached for the marsh root powder.

And his mind went blank. He couldn't remember if it was eight or twelve ounces of powder. After several minutes of being unable to remember the correct number Harry decided it would be better to be to calm than have the potion not work at all and added twelve ounces of marsh root powder to the cauldron before he crushed the stems and scooped them in.

The results were disappointing. The draught was the correct color but it was a bit murky, which meant too much marsh root. On habit Harry filled two vials with his potion and took it to the proctor who looked down at him with an all to Snape like manner. "Well I suppose you aren't anything special after all. Too much marsh root, still this looks to be a solid acceptable. You may leave; your results will be sent to you next month."

Harry hurried from the room before the examiner decided to deduct points for some silly reason like Snape did. He was almost back at the security desk when he saw Minister Fudge walking towards him; he felt the weight of the extra vial of calming draught still in his pocket. It was insane and certainly illegal but Fudge refused to listen to reason so maybe he needed a little help.

"Good day Minister." Harry said as he passed Fudge.

"Harry my boy." A shocked expression crossed Fudge's face before he replaced it with a fake plastered on smile. "What brings you to the Ministry today?"

"Just took care of some business. I don't suppose you have a few minutes to talk over tea do you?" Harry asked. If his uncle was right than any politician would sell their grandmother for some positive publicity, having tea with the Boy-Who-Lived would count towards that he reasoned.

"Of course, I always have a few minutes for you, Harry." Fudge cheerfully guided Harry to his office, passing through a number of others so the Minister was able to show off Harry. Someone also must have heard them as there was already a tea tray and two cups sitting on a side table when they arrived.

As Fudge settled into his chair and moved some papers Harry poured the tea, using his body to hide what he was doing when he poured the second vial into one of the cups. There was no way it could work; the Minister had to have some way to tell if someone was trying to potion him. Some ward or alarm.

But nothing happened as Harry set the cups on the desk and took his own. Fudge grabbed the other cup. "Now Mr. Potter what can I do for you today?"

Harry waited until fudge had taken a sip of tea and started slow the give it time to work. "What would the very public support of the Boy-Who-Lived be worth to you Minister?"

Fudge smiled, this was a game he was used to. His face relaxed until he looked almost drunk. "I'm sure something could be worked out, an exemption from the underage magic restriction maybe? A bit of extra spending gold?"

"Nothing so trivial, a trial for my godfather, Sirius Black." Harry was pleased when Fudge didn't start to rant, but he still reddened and glared at Harry.

"Now see here Black is guilty. End of story." Fudge slurred the words a bit as he spoke.

"And I say he isn't. A trial would prove it. Here is my offer Minister." Harry leaned forward and prayed the plan he had just thought of would work. "Sirius gets a fair trial. If he is guilty you get your fugitive, if I'm right, which I am, you free an innocent man and get the Boy-Who-Lived on your side. Win-win."

When Harry put it like that Fudge found the idea tempting. And if Black was innocent, well the Blacks were rich so a few contributions might be in order. He could just claim there was new evidence. "Alright, I can arrange for a trial. If Black arrives he will get to plead his case."

Harry smiled, dealing with a clam Fudge was much more enjoyable than an enraged one that was for certain.

0-O-0

(A/N: For this round I had to write about the Calming Draught and my prompts were the words permeate, special and the setting of the Ministry of Magic. As always thank you for reading.)


	8. Never mess with a Weasley

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter

Never mess with a Weasley

0-0

Roxanne dug through the numerous boxes that cluttered the small storage closet in her family's store. Half completed joke items, spare parts, long forgotten things all cluttered the space. While she enjoyed just rummaging around for the heck of it the problem was that she knew what she needed, just not where it had gotten to.

"And just what do you think you are doing young lady?" A stern voice asked behind her.

She spun to find her mum standing behind her. Rozanne shoved the bag she'd been filling further into the closet. "Nothing mum, just looking for some stuff."

"And what stuff would that be? I thought we'd told you not to play around in here." Angelina said. Roxanne looked like her but had inherited her father's tendency to get into trouble.

"That little expanded box thing dad was working on last year. I wanted to send Fred a care package to show there weren't any hard feelings about last month." Roxanne said carefully.

"And everything else you have in the backpack you're trying to hide?" Angelina asked.

"Eh, well I figured a couple of dad's pranks would be useful to him at school. You know he wrote to say his stuff got confiscated." Roxanne explained.

"I see, and what do you think your father and I would say about it?" Angelina asked a moment before she realized she'd made a mistake.

Roxanne screwed up her face in thought. "You'd pretend to be angry to keep up appearances, and dad would pretend to be disappointed to make you happy. But he'd really be proud and you'd be happy that we weren't fighting."

Angelina felt like hitting her head against the wall, she should have known. While Roxanne might look like her, Roxanne's personality was definitely closer to that of her aunt Hermione. With a sigh she pulled the box Roxanne was looking for off the top shelf. "Here, just none of the more destructive products. Alright?"

"Thanks mum!" Roxanne threw her arms around her mum in a hurried hug before she grabbed her backpack and the box.

With a shake of her head Angelina went to find her husband and inform him that his youngest was up to something. He'd be thrilled.

Roxanne smiled as she made her way back upstairs towards her room, step one complete. Now she just needed Teddy to set up a few charms for her and revenge on her brother would be begin.

0-0

Teddy watched with amusement as the expanded box was filled. Roxanne had to struggle to fit in everything she wanted before she tied it up tight. He cast the last charms on it with a smile. This was his first year out of Hogwarts and he was still enjoying the thrill of being able to do magic whenever he felt like it. He looked at Roxanne and whipped away a fake tear. "I'm so proud of you, not even in Hogwarts yet and already pranking your big brother. And to think we were so worried you wouldn't follow in all of our wonderful footsteps."

Roxanne smacked him with a pillow. "Shut it you. That prat deserves this after what he did to my dolls."

"Oh I agree." Teddy assured her. He just wished he could be in the great hall to see it when Fred opened the box.

One of the store's owls waited for Roxanne to attach the package before it flew out the window. Roxanne hummed as she began to clean the mess, until Teddy sent everything back to its place with a wave of his wand. Roxanne gave him a mock glare. "Show off."

"You know mum says the same thing." Teddy grinned and ducked another pillow.

0-0

Fred walked towards the great hall, one of his hands intertwined with his new girlfriend Taylor's own. He had only worked up the courage to ask her out the week before after one of their quidditch practices. Fred stole a glance at her, red lips, rosy cheeks. He couldn't help but smile as her face lit up while she talked about the upcoming game.

They set down for breakfast together just as the morning post arrived. Fred was a bit surprised when a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes owl landed in front of him. His family had its own owl so he couldn't figure out why they'd need to use one for the store's to send him something. He took the package and checked the tag.

"Who is that from?" Taylor asked.

"My little sister Roxanne, she'll be starting Hogwarts next year." Fred answered as he pulled off the wrapping.

Fred was thrown back as the lid shot off the box and a geyser of green and silver tinsel shot several feet into the air. The other Gryffindor's glared at the mess that covered their breakfast, a few tried to vanish it only to find that any spell just made more of it.

"Where did that come from?" Fred asked as he climbed back up.

"I think your sister might be a bit upset with you." Taylor said as she helped Fred up.

"I'll say, I think I hit my head. Would you kiss it and make it feel better? No one has to know." Fred said with a teasing smirk.

"Only in your wildest dreams." Taylor replied.

"Hey my dreams are a lot wilder…" He stopped as several pieces of black paper shot out of the box and folded themselves in midair. The simple origami birds hovered over the Gryffindor table a moment before they dive-bombed Fred and began to shriek like howlers in Roxanne's voice. "DOLL MURDERER!"

Several professors watched as Fred ran from the great hall with the birds of death in hot pursuit. They agreed that it might be time for them to retire, before another prankster arrived at Hogwarts.

0-0

(A/N: For this round my character was Roxanne Weasley and the prompts were the word Tinsel, Song 'Wildest Dreams' by Taylor Swift and the quote "Where did that come from?". As always thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.)


	9. To Set A New Path

Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Macbeth; I will however happily shout the plays name at its performance to see what happens.

To Set A New Path

0-0

He was too late. The man looked around with drunken, beady eyes but the women he had been speaking to were gone. He turned to the bar tender. "Abe, where'd my little lovelies go?"

"Where do ya' think? Said ya' be gone for a minute and that was nearly an hour ago. And it looks like you passed out in my pigsty." Abe began to wonder if he should just stun the man and toss him back outside. Who was he kidding, he'd let worse stick around. "Looks like you missed you destiny, might as well have another drink."

0-0

Three women looked over the assorted people who had gathered in the Three Broomsticks. Outside one of the worst storms to be seen in the Scottish Highlands rolled over the village of Hogsmeade. It had driven many to call it an early evening and cut into the number of potential 'friends' that they might find for a bit of fun.

"Not a looker in the bunch, we'd have had better luck if we stayed at the Hog's Head." One of them said.

"What about those two that just arrived, they look promising don't they?" Another asked.

The group turned to look at the new arrivals; two men had stepped out of the floo and made their way towards an open table. The taller of the two had a rugged, ragged look about him. The women knew his appearance and manners meant he was dangerous, or at least thought he was.

The second man was shorter and not what any of them would consider handsome but his softer appearance spoke of a less threatening nature. An odd pair they were, but with so few choices these two at least seemed interesting. The group of three left their table and made their way over to the men.

0-0

Peter Pettigrew was not comfortable going out for the evening but Rabastan had been insistent. Of course with their Dark Lord having been revealed the month before, as well as Rabastan being a wanted fugitive, they couldn't just go out. Thankfully Snape had made a potion that caused small, random alteration to a person's appearance. Peter hadn't bothered to listen to Snape's long winded explanation involving how great he was, all Peter knew was that it made it possible for them to go out without drawing attention.

For Rabastan it drew out his cheekbones and gave him a sharper appearance. For Peter it actually hid some of his weight and lessened his resemblance to a rat. Also it gave him a full head of blond hair. Which he thought was ridiculous. A long glove covered his distinctive silver hand.

"Wouldn't want to be outside tonight, it's not fit for chasing down bog-jumper or norsky." Rabastan said the words like curses. Peter thought his bloodlust for muggles was extrema even among Death Eaters. His unexplained hatred of the Irish and Norwegian was just crazy, only rivaled by his sister-in-law's insanity.

"Somehow I don't think the weather would stop you." Peter replied. Even his voice was different; having lost the squeak he had become accustomed to.

"Of course it wouldn't, you've got to put them down where you find them. Now that I think 'bout it they'd all be inside, thinking they was nice and safe. Might really be a fine night for a good hunt." Rabastan commented, he hadn't even had a drink but Peter could already see the signs of him slipping into his twisted version of excitement.

"A hunt, in this weather sweetie?" A new voice asked. The three women took seats at the table Rabastan and Peter were using. "It's too cold and wet outside. Why don't you two stay in with us?"

Rabastan grinned and grabbed one of the women by the waist. "Maybe, what cha' offering us to stay with you pretties?"

"Rosmerta, one Deed Without a Name!" One of them shouted.

"Fine but you had better clean things up this time." A moment later the inn's owner Rosmerta came over with a small cauldron.

Peter looked at the concoction in the cauldron, it looked like river sludge. Rabastan didn't seem very impressed either. "What's the bloody hell is this?"

"Deed without a name, best drink they have here, but you has to request it special see. Try some." One of them used a glass to scoop up some of the concoction. Peter looked between the woman and Rabastan.

Rabastan took his own cup and filled it before he threw his head back and chocked it down. Peter took a sip, and spit it back on the table gagging. Rabastan managed to keep his down. "Hell woman, with stuff like that you don't need an obliviate."

"That is literally the worst thing ever!" Peter managed to choke out. And between the potions Snape brewed and what he had done as a rat that was saying something. "What's in it? Dementor arse?"

One of the women conjured a flame under the caldron. "It's better hot, try it again when it reaches a boil."

"The bubbles will tickle. As for what's in it, blind-worm's sting, salt-sea shark, Tartar's lips, maw and gulf. All that fun stuff." One of them replied.

Peter couldn't tell if Rabastan actually liked the drink or if he was just showing off but he refilled his cup and chugged down another mouthful. His cup slammed onto the table top as he gasped for breath. "Hell that's got a kick. So what do you ladies do?"

"We're back up singers for the Weird Sisters." One answered easily. Another leaned forward and ran a hand along his chest. "What about you?"

"Exterminator." Rabastan replied with a twisted smile.

One of the women gave Peter a coy smile. "And you, what do you do?"

"Don't mind him he's just my pet rat without a tail!" Rabastan laughed at what he considered a delightful joke.

"A little of this, a little of that, whatever I need to do." Peter said. While he liked the attention the women were giving him he already knew how the night would end. Rabastan would take all three of them and send Peter away. He always did.

"I bet you could do whatever you wanted." The woman said as she took his hand. "You just need to get rid of any obstacles in your way and relax a bit."

Rabastan drained another cup of the concoction. "Yeah he'll get right on that."

Peter tried to finish his own glass, just to prove that he could. It was almost an hour later that he did, and he felt awful. He hadn't even touched the sweetened bloody sausages that had been ordered. Rabastan whispered something to the women, one bit her thumb in a provocative manner before she nodded and they left the table. He turned to Peter with his crooked smile. "Well you look like your nights over. Head back and sleep it off, oh and if you see my brother tell him I'll be back tomorrow."

Rabastan waved his hand in front of an unresponsive Peter and let out an annoyed sigh. It would be so much easier just to kill the little man but for some reason the Dark Lord found him useful. He walked over to the bar and flagged down Rosmerta. "See my companion off would ya? Had a bit too much he has."

She nodded and made her way over to the table where Peter was still sitting in a daze. "Come on, time to head home. Can you stand?"

"I'm fine Madam Ro…Ru…Ross." Peter managed to get out before he gave a painful hiccup that scorched his throat. "I can handle myself."

"Sure you can dear. Let's go to the floo alright?" Rosmerta said as she helped Peter towards the harth. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

0-0

Rabastan found the three women waiting for him. The first smiled and stalked towards him with a swish of her hips. "Where's your friend?"

He could have said Peter wasn't feeling well or decided to leave early. But where was the fun in that? He slipped out his yew wand. "Obliviate."

The memory charm wasn't necessary, but it just wasn't as much fun without it. He loved the feeling of power he had when casting it. It was almost as good as what was to come.

0-0

Peter stumbled out of the floo into Malfoy Manor. He made it all of five steps before he lurched into a suit of armor. The helmet fell and rolled across the floor. Peter frowned, the empty ringing of metal on marble sounded like scornful laughter to him. Like the other Death Eaters mocking him again.

He continued on down the hall, he never liked the Malfoy house. It was too creepy for his taste. It had only gotten worse recently as Malfoy indulged his darker tastes now that the Dark Lord had returned. He stumbled by a magical painting, unlike those that moved it was stationary but charmed so that whoever looked at it saw themselves as the wizard torturing muggles. Peter glanced at it and felt sick as the painting showed him standing over a bloody child.

That wasn't what he had wanted when he joined Voldemort. He wanted respect, he was useful, he was a spy. He was the one who found their master and cared for him, revived him with his own flesh! Yet he was still seen as nothing more than a lackey. Not even welcome into the inner circle.

It wasn't fair; he had done so much for them. So much that _only_ he could do. The places only he could get to, Snape always received the praise for his spying but Peter did far more than him.

A pair of large doors down the hall opened and Voldemort exited with eight members of his inner circle. Even as Peter hurried to the side of the hall and out of their way he thought that he should be a part of that group. They didn't even spare a glance for him. To them he was no better than a house elf with a birnam twig broom.

He remembered the woman from the Three Broomsticks, her words echoed in his head. He could do whatever he wanted; he just needed to remove the obstacles. Well there were his obstacles. He could get rid of them he realized. No one would suspect poor little Peter. A cold stone settled in his stomach as he realized how easy it would be.

He had access to most of the Death Eater's homes, a dozen undetectable ways to kill someone that Voldemort had amassed, and untraceable poisons from Snape. _A_ rat could go anywhere, _he_ could be anything. Even a king!

0-0

(A/N: For this chapter I was given the play Macbeth, I used the scene with the three witches for influence, most of my references to the play also came from that scene. Just as they set Macbeth on a path that saw many killed so to was Peter set on a path that will see many Death Eaters killed. My optional prompts were (spell) Obliviate, (opening sentence) '(S)He was too late.' and (dialogue) "That is literally the worst thing ever!"

(A/N2: Because I have no idea how familiar anyone is with the play Macbeth, and some of the references I've made are a bit obscure or hidden I've included this list of the ones I put in.

Three witches

Two 'friends'

Stormy weather

Hint that the women are prostitutes whose work has been referred to as a 'deed without a name'.

Commenting on the weather

Bog-jumper and Norsky –slang for Irish and Norwegian – nationalities defeated by Macbeth

Drink called 'Deed without a name'

Boiling cauldron/bubbles

Ingredients - Blind-worm's sting, salt-sea shark, Tartar's lips, maw and gulf

Weird Sisters – other name for the three witches from Macbeth

Rat without a tail – mentioned in act 1 scene 3

Thumb bit – 'by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes'

Sweetened sausages – sow's blood and grease that is sweetened

Rosmerta referred to as Ross – other character

Slipped out his yew wand – mentions of slips of yew in cauldron

Armor's helmet – armored head, first apparition conjured by witches.

The painting – bloody child, second apparition

Eight members of the inner circle – the eight kings shown by the witches

House elf with a birnam twig broom – child with tree, third apparition

Birnam twig broom - Birnam forest – a coming enemy

Consideration of possible murder – the murder's Macbeth commits

Reference to being king.

Thank you to everyone who read, I hope you enjoyed it.


	10. The Worst Party of the Year

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

The Worst Party of the Year

0-0

Harry crouched under his invisibility cloak as he hid in a seldom used corridor. Footsteps raced towards him. He couldn't believe how bad things had become since his name had popped out of the Goblet of Fire. A number of people saw this as their chance to finally get back at Harry for all manner of perceived wrongs with one house leading the charge.

Maybe all of them didn't have a grudge against him; maybe some just wanted to say they got a shot in at Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived. He didn't really care one way or the other.

When the corridor grew quiet Harry set out again for his destination. He had taken Moody's lessons to heart and placed silencing charms on his shoes in case anyone was lying in wait, listening. He arrived at a seemingly random abandoned classroom in a seldom used part of the castle.

The door was left slightly ajar so that Harry cloud see in and check that the only person who was supposed to be in the room was alone, she was unless someone was hiding behind the door. As he stepped in that was the first place he checked.

"Have any trouble getting here?" Susan asked as Harry pulled off his invisibility cloak.

"Just the usual people from your house trying to find me." Harry said. Slytherin had always been a house of bullies but Hufflepuff quickly put them to shame in their relentless and highly orginized harassment of Harry.

Cedric had tried to rein them in after the first task and Harry's warning about the dragon but they choose to believe instead that Harry had somehow cursed him and doubled their efforts. Only a few students from Hufflepuff wouldn't hex Harry on sight now.

"I still can't believe Professor Sprout refuses to do anything. I've tried to talk to her a dozen times, the same with Cedric but she won't listen to us. She actually had the nerve to tell me that I should stay away from you and show loyalty to my house." Susan vented. She had been growing more and more frustrated as the year went on. Her aunt was being stonewalled at every turn from finding out who put Harry's name into the tournament, her own house seemed to have gone insane and were acting worse than the Slytherins and Harry refused to openly date her for fear of what her housemates might try and do to her. He had even refused her invitation to the Yule Ball because he was worried about her, it was sweet but infuriating.

Well she was going to fix that last one by the end of the day even though the Yule Ball had already passed. "Harry… since the Yule Ball was such a success Professor Flitwick arranged a New Year's Eve party for tonight. Do you want to go with me?"

Harry sighed deeply, he hated having to decline Susan's invitations but he wouldn't forgive himself if her house did something to her because they were together. His reasons never seemed to make it any easier to turn her down though. "Susan we've been over this…"

"Alright that's it. You don't get a choice anymore." Susan forcefully said. "I can handle my housemates, you will take me to the party tonight, we will have a good time and we will start properly dating afterwards got it?"

Every one of Harry's self-preservation instincts urged him to agree. Numbly he nodded his head.

Susan smiled. "Excellent. I'll meet you by the bust of Clarence the Clumsy on the fifth floor." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek before she hurried from the room.

Harry stood there shocked for several moments before he threw his invisibility cloak back on and also left.

0-0

Harry wore the same dress robes that he had for the Yule Ball as he waited for Susan by the cracked bust. Legend said that Clarence the Clumsy had actually tripped and cracked it when it was first added to the school.

He was nervous and relieved at the same time, though he didn't understand how the conflicting emotion could both be so strong. Not to mention the others that he seemed to be running through that evening.

There was a feel of joy that he was finally going out with Susan, worry over how her housemates would react, anger that they had been the reason he and Susan weren't already together. He was relieved that it was finally happening, it felt right to him. But the worry continued to grow over how the others would treat her now. He was long past carrying how the school thought of him but if they went after Susan. Well he'd faced a number of magical creatures full grown wizards feared. A few students weren't going to hurt him or Susan.

"You look deep in thought." Susan's voice brought him back to reality.

Harry looked up and choked on his greeting. She was wearing the same dress she did to the Yule Ball but somehow she looked even better than she had just a few days ago. "Susan you… wow… you look great."

"Thank you, you look very dashing as well." Susan looped her arm around his as they walked to the classroom where the party was. Unlike the Yule Ball the party was invitation only so Harry was attending as Susan's date.

"Dashing is good right?" Harry asked nervously.

"Very good." She assured him.

They arrived precisely at the stroke of nine. Professor Flitwick had received permission for the party to last until midnight to truly celebrate New Year's properly. As they stepped in the music stopped and Harry wondered if this had been a mistake. Practically everyone who hated him was there. Most of the Hufflepuffs, the Ravenclaws lead by Cedric's girlfriend Cho, a good deal of Slytherins and a handful of Gryffindors. Noticeably only those who were outspoken about him being a cheater.

There was also Snape and Professor Sprout. Both of who looked at him as if he was something unpleasant that they had stepped in.

Moody ambled over and looked between them. "Potter, what are you doing here? Remember what I told you, I thought you were taking my lessons to heart. Never, ever allow yourself to feel. Feelings kill."

"I… I decided that I didn't want to live a life like that sir." Harry tightened his hold on Susan; she did the same to him.

"Then be it on your head Potter, won't last, you got to many enemies." Moody gave a disapproving look and left the party.

Most of the guests continued to stare at the new couple. The first one to start moving again was a sixth year Hufflepuff. "Get away from her Potter!"

He made to charge at them but was stopped by two wands. Both Harry and Susan had them pointed between his eyes. Another Hufflepuff slowly reached out and put a hand on the first's shoulder to move him back. "Susan, Susan you know me right? I'm Billy. Listen Potter has potioned you, put down your wand and we'll fix everything up. No worries."

"Why do you assume that Harry potioned me?" Susan asked through gritted teeth.

"Why else would you turn on your house?" Sprout asked. "Severus would you mind helping?"

"Not at all." Snape's silky voice was full of glee and malice. "Using such potions on another student is a very serious offence; I imagine his father used similar methods."

Before all hell could break loose Harry pulled Susan from the room and they took off running down the corridor. He blindly pointed his wand over his shoulder and cast a smokescreen charm. Shouts echoed behind them as nearly everyone from the party gave chase. They ducked around a corner and Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak, he threw it over them just as the first people appeared.

The Hufflepuffs were in the lead followed by several Slytherins all eager for an excuse to curse Harry. The group ran past Harry and Susan's hiding spot. Carefully the couple moved away from the corner and down another corridor. Every few moments someone else came running around wildly looking for them.

"This is insane." Susan whispered as yet another Hufflepuff ran by with his wand drawn. "What's wrong with them?"

Harry shrugged, though the gesture lost something in such a confined space. "I'm sorry about this Susa…"

"This isn't your fault." Susan cut him off. "Ug if there was just some way I could contact my aunt about this but an owl would take forever."

"How about a secret passage to Hogsmeade?" Harry offered. "We could take it and maybe find a floo in the village."

"Or just take the Knight bus." Susan said.

"It's running tonight?" Harry was surprised; he figured everyone would have the evening off.

"It's always running, come on show me this secret passage." Susan said, Harry took her hand and pulled her back down the corridor.

0-0

(A/N: For this round we had forbidden romances, I got two people from different houses. I'm sure most people thought of Gryffindor and Slytherin, not Hufflepuff. But the idea of what would need to happen to see the house of loyalty turn on another intrigued me. I also thought that they would be the worst ones to make enemies of. My prompts were (quote) 'Never, ever allow yourself to feel. Feelings kill.' - Malorie Blackman, Knife Edge, (word) practically, and (occasion) New Year's Eve party. Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed.)


	11. Mostly Ghostly

Disclaimer: I only own my insanity, I think.

* * *

Peeves smiled as the ghosts from the Durmstrang ship arrived in the great hall. It was well after midnight and they would not be disturbed. While the living had their tournament the spirits had a much more civilized way to decide which school was better. The Hogwarts ghosts floated behind Peeves, the Durmstrang ghosts did the same as their own poltergeist moved forward.

They cheered as they prepared to watch the ancient spiritual method of battle, a dance off. The two poltergeists floated to the middle of the great hall. As the guest spirits Durmstrang was allowed to go first.

The Durmstrang poltergeists changed his form to Illidan the Betrayer. Overly large horns, tattered wings and glowing green tattoos on purple skin. He rapidly thrust his hips forward. "You are _not prepared_!"

Peeves snorted, no class at all. He flew forward and ripped the blindfold from his opponent's eyes. Then changed into Urkel and snapped the cloth. "Did I do that?"

* * *

Dobby hummed as he entered the great hall to clean it, then froze. There was a purple dinosaur shaking in the middle of the room next to some type of metal golem with a saucer shaped head and a lightning bolt on its chest. "DANGER! DA… DA… DANGER! DANGER RANGERS, DANGER!"

Ghosts floated around the pair and cheered. Dobby backed out of the room and closed the door slowly. It looked like it was time to forget what he had seen, again. He made a quick note about the golem's marvelous design before he left to find the one substance strong enough to make a house elf forget, Hagrid's toe fungus.

Dobby appeared in the half giant's hut and moved towards the large boots at the foot of the bed. Secondhand exposure was enough. The last elf to come into direct contact with Hagrid's feet had gone insane. He had named himself Napoleon and was attempting to raise an army of pixies to save Scotland from the Scotts. Silly Napoleon, all house elves knew pixies were for pies and porridge.

Taking a moment to prepare himself Dobby plunged his head into the boot and took a deep breath.

An hour later dobby found himself in greenhouse three covered in dung with no idea what had happened. Or why everything smelled purple, with a hint of the Queen.

* * *

"I'm sorry." Hermione said to the poltergeists. "But Peeves wins. If you had switched to classical ballet instead of hip hop in the third round you might have won."

The Durmstrang poltergeists frowned. "And what say you?"

"I agree." Victor said.

"Good boy, you want your Victor Biscuit?" Hermione asked as she took out a dog biscuit.

"Da." He nodded.

"So how are you and your girlfriend?" Hermione asked.

"You know about her?"

"Yes, you and Madame Maxime aren't very discreet, or quiet. And the library was a horrible place for such a meeting." They'd smashed her favorite table, while she was using it!


	12. That Magical Mat

Disclaimer: Only the ideas are mine.

That Magical Mat

0-0

Harry and Draco glared at each other across the corridor. It was the same argument that had happened a thousand times, Draco thought that purebloods were perfect and didn't understand why everyone else didn't agree. Letting his mouth run on its own he had boasted that he could prove that he was better than Potter.

A strange idea popped into Harry's head at the Slytherins pretention. "Wrestling."

"What?" Draco asked. He had been expecting Potter to deny Pureblood superiority, or maybe challenge him to a duel. Not shout some muggle word.

"You heard me, wrestling." Harry repeated. "If your blood really makes you so much better than me you'll have no problem beating me in a wrestling match. Since neither of us has wrestled before we're on even footing."

"You want me to compete in some filthy muggle sport?" Draco asked in shock.

"Why not, unless all that shit about your blood was a lie." Harry said.

"Fine, in one month I'll prove purebloods are superior." Draco said and turned to leave. He quickly realized that the competition didn't matter; he'd just need to find a way to cheat and win. It was that simple. But to cheat he needed to find out just what he had agreed to in the first place.

There were no muggle-borns in Slytherin house, but there were a few half-bloods. Draco knew of one that spent most of his time in the muggle world. The little bastard blood traitor would know what all this wrestling nonsense was about.

Draco found the third year in the library just where he expected to. He sat down across from the boy and snapped his book shut to get his attention. "Explain wrestling Marcus."

"What?" Marcus asked cautiously.

"What is wrestling, and more importantly tell me how I can beat Potter at it." Draco demanded.

"Explain from the beginning." Marcus said.

Draco regretted that he had to deal with a simpleton; this was what came from associating with muggles. Still he explained what had happened and what he needed.

Marcus was left in a tough spot, he knew next to nothing about wrestling. Quickly he put together the few things he did know and had heard into what he hoped was right. "Alright, first off you don't want to win the match."

"You think I should lose?" Draco demanded.

"No, that wouldn't work with your personality. The best outcome would be for the two of you to tie." Marcus said.

Draco resisted the urge to hex him. "What are you talking about?"

"Wrestling is all about popularity, winning the match is secondary. If you won than everyone would throw their support behind Harry to win next time, if you lost you could get some support but Harry is considered more likeable so he'd still win the most support. But a tie would even it out. It's all an act, like the theater. You play characters and get the crowd behind you. Just one big popularity contest." Marcus made up his explanation as he went and prayed that Draco bought it.

"So it's all acting? And the goal is to become the most popular?" Draco asked.

"Yes. The matches are scripted." Marcus said, he remembered his older sister once saying that the matches were all fake.

Draco frowned as he realized that he had almost fallen for Potter's trap, it was actually very Slytherin. Potter was counting on him not knowing anything about wrestling and trying to win the match, Potter would lose but win the support of the students. It was like sacrificing a pawn to take a knight. But Draco wasn't going to fall for it. "You're sure that a tie would give me the best outcome?"

"Yes, no offence but you're seen as a bit of a villain. If you win everyone will want to see Potter come back and beat you. If you lose everyone is happy. But a tie would boost both of your popularities and bring people back later for a grudge match." Marcus said.

"And that's the point." Draco mumbled.

"If you want I can draft up a few scripts the make sure you look as good as you possible can." Marcus offered.

It sounded possible but something still didn't sit right with Draco, this was a muggle concept after all, surely they couldn't have come up with anything so cunning. He voiced his doubt to Marcus.

"One day, you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again." Marcus mumbled.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Draco demanded, he wasn't sure but it sounded insulting.

"When you were little you liked fairytales right?" When Draco nodded Marcus continued. "But I bet you wouldn't be caught dead reading them now would you? When you get older and have some actual life experience you'll be able to go back and see the fairytales in a new light. You dismiss them now as children's stories but they are more than that. You dismiss muggles because they don't have magic. And yes they can't hold a candle to us but to survive so long without magic they had to get clever. And occasionally they do something right. Heck even your two goons can guess the right answer every now and then."

"Very well." Draco nodded. He'd never admit muggles could truly do anything right but they had a good idea this time. One he was sure that he could improve upon as a wizard.

0-0

The next day Marcus tracked down Hermione Granger. If anyone would be Potter's manager it was her. Unsurprisingly he found her at her normal table in the library. Marcus sat across from her and waited for Hermione to look up. Finally she did. "Can I help you with something?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the Malfoy Potter match and have you look over a few scripts." Marcus slid the pieces of parchment across the table.

Hermione was reluctant at first but after Marcus explained his own skewed view of wrestling she agreed to help. As far as she knew he was correct that the matches were scripted, her father had said they were fake on numerous occasions.

0-0

Harry, Hermione and Ron were in an empty classroom practicing for the match. Hermione looked over the latest script that she had worked out with Marcus. "Alright Ron, put Harry in a headlock. Harry, you're going to reach down and grab his right leg, and then pull it out from under him."

"How do you know this is what Malfoy plans to do?" Ron asked.

"My spy." Hermione had tried to explain that the whole match was just an act but for some reason Ron couldn't understand that. "Now let's go, we still have more rounds to practice before curfew."

0-0

Dumbledore walked towards the table where Hermione sat with half a dozen books open around her. "Miss Granger, what is this I hear about you arranging a fight between Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter?"

"I'm afraid that you misheard sir, I'm helping them put on a show but any altercation between them is purely for entertainment. You are more than welcome to look over the script." Hermione pulled out the latest version and handed it to the Headmaster who looked it over eagerly. "We've also taken measures to make sure no one in hurt."

"I see, it does indeed appear that I was misinformed. I eagerly await the show." Dumbledore returned the script and continued on, humming a happy tune.

0-0

Lord Malfoy had made arrangements to meet with his son during the next Hogsmeade weekend; he had heard a number of disturbing rumors and wished to get to the bottom of them. He had expected to be informed that the rumors were nothing but lies, his son informed him otherwise.

"They are true as far as they go. However wrestling is not some muggle form of grappling but rather a carefully arranged production with the goal of winning the most support. Potter clearly challenged me to it expecting me to not figure this out and win the match, which would have resulted in little gain for me. However a tie will allow both of us to build our support. Several more matches are planned between us and I believe by the end of the year I can steal away most of Potter's followers." Draco explained.

His father listened as Draco pointed out several points of the match and explained why they had agreed to them. Lord Malfoy was impressed; it truly was a very Slytherin method to gain support.

"Of course nearly everyone knows that it is fake, only the lowest haven't figured that out yet. Which explains why Weasley believes that it is real." Draco said with amusement.

0-0

Harry looked down in horror at what Hermione wanted him to wear. It was barely more than a red speedo with gold trim. "I can't wear this!"

"Of course you can. As well as this." Hermione handed him a small bowl.

"What is it?" Harry asked, sure that he wouldn't like the answer.

"A cup, you wear it under your costume to protect your penis and family jewels, and here." She handed him a rolled up napkin. "Stuff that between the cup and your costume."

"But… I mean…" Harry stuttered, not sure what to say.

"Oh just go do it already." Hermione shoved him into the lavatory to change. When Harry came back out he felt ridiculous but Hermione had to admit he didn't look to bad. She quickly cast several charms on him. "There, those will allow you and Malfoy to hit each other without any pain or injury."

They made their way to the great hall where a large area had been cleared for their use. Harry was both disgusted and amused to see that Malfoy was wearing a similar costume to his own, but in Slytherin colors.

0-0

Voldemort looked over the report from his spy in Hogwarts. Originally he had not been pleased about the idea of young Malfoy engaging in such a contest. It was so beneath a pure blooded wizard. But the results we beyond what he had expected.

To date Draco had participated in four matches and gained a good deal of support for the pure blood cause. Far more than Voldemort had expected, and it presented an interesting opportunity.

Voldemort knew that he was feared and hated, but that had yet to win him control over the wizarding world. Could this wrestling offer the chance he needed? It did appeal to his more flamboyant side. Imagine, he the most feared Dark Lord with his own fans.

0-0

Fudge was terrified. He had been awoken in the middle of the night by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The Minister was sure that his death was only a moment away. "Don't kill me!"

"I'm not here to kill you; I'm here to purpose a new method of battle, wrestling. I have taken the liberty of writing a few scripts for you to go over." Voldemort could have just ordered the man to obey, or used any number of curses but he had decided to try and actually convince the coward to do as he wanted without threats. A new challenge appealed to him.

After Fudge had stopped panicking long enough to listen he quickly agreed. The Ministry would put together a team of wrestlers to compete in scripted matches against a team of death eaters. In return they would stop killing everyone.

Voldemort was proud of the scripts that he had written; perhaps once everything was over he would publish them. The first season would see his death eaters compete in matches until they reached the Ministry and almost took over, the second season would have his death eaters on the run until the Ministry's team fought against him.

One of the conditions though was that Potter competed. And when Potter reached the final match he would die at the hands of Voldemort! And the Ministry would hand deliver him. It was perfect!

0-0

Harry looked at the Minister in shock. "You agreed to a bunch of wrestling matches between your people and Voldemort's for control of the Ministry?"

"Well yes but according to the scripts we win in the end. But you have to compete." Fudge said.

"Alright." Harry surprised several people by agreeing. "But in return I'll have my own people help me and I want pardons for all of us."

"Of course." Fudge nodded so fast that his hat flew off.

0-0

Harry stepped into the special ring erected in Diagon Alley. The crowd cheered. "_Welcome everyone! To this amazing match of the Golden-Boy-Who-Lived against Lord Malfoy!_"

Lord Malfoy truly thought that his Master had lost it with his latest plan, but the first several death eaters who had complained were all killed. And while he would never admit it he actually found these matches, enjoyable. He snapped his fingers.

"_What's this? That dirty cheat just called in one of the Troll Twins!_" The announcer yelled as Crabbe Sr. stepped into the ring as well.

"Two on one Potter, what will you do?" Malfoy demanded as the crowd jeered.

"This." Harry put his fingers to his lips and let out an ear piercing whistle. A large grim jumped into the ring and transformed into Sirius.

"_I don't believe it! It's Sirius Black the Dooooooogggg Faaaaather!_" The announcer shouted as the match started. The crowd cheered at the latest twist.

0-0

After his defeat Malfoy left the ring in disgrace and disappeared, earning him the nickname of the Yellow Duck.

Another highlight of the season was the masked wrestler who fought for the Ministry being revealed as Madam Umbridge only for her to switch sides and almost lead to the Ministry's defeat.

The first season culminated in the match between Dumbledore and Voldemort in the Ministry itself. Unfortunately Dumbledore was still not clear on what a proper costume was and Fawkes flamed him into the ring wearing nothing but a pair of tighty whities and bright yellow wool socks on his hands.

Voldemort was so disgusted by the almost naked old man that he barely had to pretend to lose the match. It was hard to fight when you couldn't stand to look at your adversary. Several spectators were later rushed to healers after they had attempted to erase that memory.

0-0

The second season was even more of a success. It drew attention for around the world and Voldemort was surprised to discover just how much profit was being made. Even if his plan somehow failed he could easily afford to finance another war.

As the Ministry's team progressed through the season several of Voldemort's inner circle disappeared after their defeats. Among them were Snape, Bella, and Peter. Their gutless actions earned them the nickname of Voldemort's Cowardly Ducks in honor of Malfoy, or more commonly just The Cowards.

0-0

The night of the final match arrived. Voldemort had chosen the location of his own ring carefully and selected the old graveyard where he had been reborn. Of course he had made several alterations to prevent anyone from making the connection to his true parentage. A green lantern hung between each tombstone, enchanted to paint everything in its killing curse colored light while a statue of death towered behind his corner.

The crowd was incredible, numbering almost half as many as had attended the last world cup.

Harry entered the ring with his favorite wrestlers. The Dog Father, the Red Wonder, the Root, Spite Fire and the Fairy. While Ron had never won a match he was a crowd favorite for his antics. Neville had surprised everyone with his gift for flooring his foes while Ginny and Luna had gained a massive following. Both for their looks and their skills, Ginny threw a mean right hook and Luna was easily considered the fasted person in the ring.

Voldemort shot his dark mark into the air as the match began. The crowd roared. "_I don't believe it! The Cowards have all returned!_"

The spectators cheered as they realized there would be several matches that night before the main event. By the time that the first five were finished everyone was eager to see Voldemort and Harry fight, their blood pumping and full of alcohol. Voldemort smiled as they began, he'd play along with the script for now. But when it called for his retreat he would strike down Potter and claim the glory for himself.

They traded blows for several minutes before he realized that something was wrong. He suddenly felt a burning sensation and looked down just in time to see himself turning to ash. Voldemort screamed and lunged at Harry before he completely disintegrated.

Harry looked down at his fists in shock as the crowd jumped to their feet screaming his praise.

0-0

(A/N: For this round of crossovers I received the Misc category. I pick wrestling from the list. My prompts were (quote) 'One day, you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.' - C.S Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia, (nursery rhyme) Five Little Ducks, which inspired Voldemort's cowards and (word) lantern. Thank you for reading and I hope you all enjoyed.


	13. Nessie's name is Phil

Disclaimer: I only own my insanity

Nessie's name is Phil

0-0

The following is taken from the travel journal kept by Hermione Granger during the summer of 1996. _With notes added by Luna Lovegood_.

Day 1

Today Ron, Ginny, Luna and I finished preparing to rescue Harry from his relatives for the summer. Sirius (rest his soul) had already made most of the arrangements, which included a heavily warded and possible illegal motor home to travel across the country as well as some definitely illegal untraceable wands. According to the notes Sirius left it is much harder to leave the country than it is to hide within, especially using muggle methods.

We all decided that even though Sirius Black is now dead that we would honor his plans and make sure that Harry didn't have to suffer another summer at his relatives. Neville was unable to come, how Ron and Ginny convinced their parents to let them go on this trip is unknown. Though I am glad for them as I'm sure that it will take all of us to keep Harry from blaming himself over what happened at the Ministry.

I'm also glad that Luna has a driver's license, I'm not sure how she got it but Luna has assured me that she can drive the motor home.

_I found the license on the ground and glued my face onto it. I've never actually driven before but I've played several games in the local village so it should be fine. There are far fewer coins on the road than I was led to believe._

Day 2

We picked up Harry today. He was surprised to see us as we couldn't chance informing him beforehand what was going to happen. I had fully expected for someone from the Order to be watching Harry's house but since no one tried to stop us I suppose he either didn't have a guard, which is just irresponsible on Dumbledore's part or the guard had left for some reason, also irresponsible.

_I found someone under an invisibility cloak in the bushes; I hit them with a shovel and stole their things._

Harry was hesitant to come with us but we finally convinced him. Thankfully Sirius had thought of just about everything and provided charms that would let us hide from every conceivable method of magical tracking or location.

However one thing we didn't think of was sleeping arrangements. The bed can fit two; there is enough room for a single person on the couch and in the sleeper bunk above the cab. This still leaves us one space short. My idea was to expand the couch, however Ron offered another solution. When he saw the storage space below the floor, accessible from a hatch outside, he immediately claimed it as his own and seems perfectly happy with it. Though there is barely enough room for him inside to roll over.

Ginny suggested that Harry be given the bed and the rest of us rotate who joins him. I was against the idea until I realized that it would allow us to keep a closer eye on Harry in case he has nightmares, which I suspect he does.

Day 5

Today in our mission to help Harry have a wonderful summer and experience what he was denied by his relatives we went an all you can eat buffet. Ron thought that he was in heaven. After two hours we were asked to leave, in that time Ron managed to consume a staggering amount of food. I am now fully convinced that as a child Ron used accidental magic to expand the volume of his stomach, there is just no way a person should be able to fit that much food in their digestive track.

Day 6

I have never been so scared in my life! Today was the first time on our trip the Luna drove and I swear she will never be allowed to drive again! I can't believe I was involved in a high speed pursuit, or how much Luna seemed to enjoy it.

Thankfully a charm on the motor home means it appears slightly different to everyone so once we got away they won't be able to find us again, but to do that we had to use a powerful notice-me-not charm, why Sirius thought to add that I have no idea.

I spoke with Harry about it and he thinks he can drive the motor home. Neither Ron nor Ginny have any interest in doing so.

_I really don't understand why Hermione was so upset; the motor home has the same enchantments on it as the Knight bus. It is impossible for me to crash. When I pointed this out to her and asked why she was so upset she said __"Because you're mental, that's why!" I think she just needs another night with Harry. He is very comfortable, even if he does resist cuddling at first._

Day 8

We went to Loch Ness today. Luna directed us to a magically hidden spot and proceeded to play the accordion. Which to our surprise attracted Nessie. Luna than told us that his name is Phil.

_I play a mean accordion, every time I touch it the instrument makes such angry noises, but Phil seems to enjoy it._

We had a wonderful lunch at the Dores Inn, but when we returned we discovered signs that another magical person had been there and decided to leave. Luna agreed because apparently Phil wasn't feeling well.

_He ate something that didn't agree with him, which is why he ate them._

Day 11

Ron became very excited while we were shopping today when he discovered a calendar that had Hug-A-Ginger-Day listed as a holiday. He was disappointed to learn that it had already passed but is insisting that he will make sure everyone at Hogwarts knows about it next year.

He has also taken to practicing his hugs whenever possible. This proved very surprising to the people in the store; I finally pointed him towards a nearby retirement home. We later had to drag him out as they had made the mistake of offering to feed him.

Day 17

We saw a football game today, Ron spent most of the time complaining that there was only one ball but the rest of us had a wonderful time.

Day 23

I finally found out why Ron is so happy in the storage compartment, he's used so many space expansion charms on it that it's bigger than the rest of the motor home! Not only that but apparently he's been sending Dobby out to buy things. Among his many purchase with part of the Black fortune was three water beds, he popped the first two.

Day 37

We spent the day traveling towards Wick; I finally relented and allowed Luna to drive again. She did alright but she almost hit a stag.

_I ran over a Death Eater, twice. I told Hermione it was a stag because hitting a person seems like the kind of thing that would upset her._

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(A/N: My prompts for this round were "Because you're mental, that's why!" Hug-A-Ginger-Day and Travel journal style. Thank you for reading.)


	14. The Ministry Ball

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the other characters

The Ministry Ball

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The house was dark and quiet, it was early in the morning and the inhabitants were all absent. Visiting their family at the Burrow. Lily Luna Potter snuck down the hall towards her cousin Victoire's bedroom. That evening was one of the annual balls that the Ministry put on and as was common her parents had been invited. What was different was that they had finally said she was old enough to go with them.

Her mom had spent hours the day before trying to help her pick out a dress for the ball but Lily already knew the perfect one, and it was just sitting in Victoire's closet. She just needed to sneak in, get the dress, have a few shrinking charms cast on it. Then it was to the ball and back to the closet before anyone noticed it was missing.

Well that had been her original plan, but when she reached her cousins room Lily discovered that the closet had been magically expanded and was stuffed. She blinked at the bright colors, several of which she was sure couldn't exist without magic. But how to find the dress she wanted?

It didn't look like it was on one of the clothes racks so she began to dig through the trunks. She was three in, finding the one filled with fencing armor, when someone cleared their throat behind her.

Lily jumped, her heart hammering in her chest. She spun around to find Victoire behind her, arms crossed and one foot tapping the floor. "Eh… Hi." Lilly said weakly.

"Good morning. So little Lily, what are you doing in my closet? Especially when you knew we were all staying with grandmamma?" Victoire asked.

"Well, there's that ball tonight at the Ministry and I remembered that you had the perfect dress so I thought I'd just… borrow it." Lily shrank under her cousin's gaze; it was almost as bad as her mum's.

"So instead of asking me you thought that you'd just sneak in and take it then stick it back before anyone noticed?" Victoire asked.

"Kind of. How'd you know I was here?" Lily hoped to deflect at least a bit of the trouble she was in.

"With all the pranksters in the family? I learned to set some basic wards." She took a minute to look over Lily who was her unofficial little sister. "Fine which dress were you thinking of?"

Lily perked up. "That candy floss pink one you got on your trip to New York a few years ago."

Victoire began to rummage through a different trunk. "Hmm that will look good on you, but it is candy cotton pink, not candy floss pink."

"What's the difference?" Lily asked.

"About 3 galleons at the shop." Victoire replied with a grin as she pulled out the dress.

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Lily stepped out of the floo with a huge smile on her face. Victoire had let her borrow the dress and even helped with her make-up. Not that she particularly liked wearing make-up but Victoire had insisted in return for the dress. She'd also spent most of that time teasing her about trying to catch a certain boy's attention. Lily had gotten in her own shots when she brought up Teddy being at the ball with them.

Victoire arrived a few minutes after Lilly and immediately grabbed her cousin. She pointed towards the stage in excitement. "Look! They got Iron Troll!"

Iron Troll was a wizarding rock band that mostly did covers of muggle pop songs with a few lyrics changed. Lily found that she wasn't nearly as excited as Victoire because she had heard most of the songs the band ripped off.

Dinner was provided before the ball began. Lily managed to sneak away from her parents and sit with her Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur. Victoire gave her a pleased smile; she'd spent more than a few minutes complaining how boring parts of the evening could be without someone to talk to. Lily had mostly done it though to be away from her annoying brothers. They wouldn't be so smug once she learned the bat boogie hex.

Once dinner was finished a dozen boring speeches were given, Lily ignored them in favor of attempting to fold her napkin into a swan. Her aunt Luna had promised to show her a charm to animate paper or cloth animals once she knew how to make ten of them. A swan would be number eight.

When the speeches were finally over the dance floor was cleared and the band began to play. After several songs Victoire had twisted her napkin in frustration and the edges were beginning to smolders. Teddy hadn't stepped foot onto the dance floor yet; instead he spent that time talking with a few other kids that he knew from Hogwarts, a number of them girls with fluttering eyelashes.

"If you want to dance with him you'll have to ask." Lily said. She almost flinched when Victoire focused her scowl at her. "Don't shot the messenger, boys are clueless, and mom says since Teddy was raised by dad he's doubly so."

Victoire sighed. "I suppose that you are correct, I was just hoping that he would come and sweep me off my feet."

"Well once you get him he might. Dad made us all take dance lessons and Teddy was pretty good. He was the only one who didn't step on my feet." Lily said, thankfully her mother had cast cushioning charms on her shoes.

Victoire steeled herself. "Right." She threw down her napkin stalked towards the table where Teddy was.

Lily almost burst out laughing when Victoire grabbed Teddy and dragged him onto the dance floor. Her brother looked completely panicked! Oh if only she had her camera.

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Teddy had no idea what to do, he tried to look around for some help but Victoire grabbed his hand and put it on her hip. She forced him to look at her. "Don't you dare look back; just keep your eyes on me." She gave him a small smile as they began to dance.

After a few songs she felt him start to relax and his movements became more fluid. Lily had been right, he was a good dancer. Teddy lost count of how many songs they danced through, but after a while he couldn't keep a cheeky grin off his face. "I think you're holding back."

Victoire swatted at him playfully. "Shut up and dance with me."

They swung around the dance floor as the band picked up a quicker tune. They spent the rest of the ball dancing together, much to their parent's amusement.

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It was less than a week later when Lily caught the two of them snogging behind the broom shed. She snapped a quick picture of them locked in a passionate embrace for future blackmail material. She was sure Victoire had a few more dresses that she'd outgrown.

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(A/N:I wrote this story as Chaser 2 for the Caerphilly Catapults in the first round of QLFC finals. We had to pick one character as a team, Lily Luna Potter, and write her with any secondary character of our choice. I chose Victoire.

My optional prompts for this round were:

1\. (color) Cotton candy pink

2\. (word) Embrace

3\. (song) 'Shut up and dance' by Walk the Moon


	15. Poppy's field

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or cast.

Poppy's Field

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The following is an excerpt from the rough draft of Poppy Pomfrey's memoirs _Poppy's Field_.

It may seem strange after my reluctance to take the position of matron of Hogwarts but as I readied my office and the hospital wing I found myself looking forward to the work. Professor McGonagall had done a wonderful job convincing me to give the position at least a year and to see how it suited me. She also insisted that I now refer to her as Minerva. Anyone who has had the pleasure of being taught by her will understand the difficulty I had with suck a request.

I was surprised by her warm attitude; it was such a contrast to the distant and stern professor that every student came to know. I admit I nearly suffer heart complications when a few days prior she invited me out for a drink with several other members of staff.

Nearly as strange was now having so many of my old professors as colleges. I kept expecting one or more of them to deduct points from me for some reason, not that I lost them often. After spending seven year viewing the professors as authority figures it was difficult for me to come to term with the fact that I was now considered equal to them in many ways.

I had to quickly overcome those feelings though as even before the students arrived I had my very first patient. Hagrid, the assistant gamekeeper came in carrying his supervisor, Ogg.

"Wee beastie didn't mean nuthin' you just spooked it was all." Hagrid said as he set Ogg down on one of the beds.

If there was any phrase that would describe a majority of my interaction with Hagrid over the coming decades that was it. I quickly set to work treating the bite on Ogg's leg. Unfortunately neither had gotten a good look at the creature and could only tell me that it was small and dark colored. Though Hagrid was quick to add that it was probably scared and did not mean any harm.

Bless that man but I believe that the only creature he never found any love for were dementors.

Unfortunately because the bite was form an unknown animal, and I lacked the experience at the time to identify it, I had to confine Ogg to a bed for the night which suited him fine. Hagrid was positively thrilled when he was instructed to lead the new first years across the lake.

After treating Ogg I busied myself with a few last minute details. Horace had been wonderful in providing all the potions that I thought I could ever need. Oh how naive I was.

I grew anxious as the day continued and it grew closer to the feast. I made my way down early. It is a very different experience to be seated at the head table and not among the students. I confess that I was so nervous that I almost returned to my old house table instead of taking my proper spot.

When the children arrived I noticed that they seemed more uneasy than normal, surely my class hadn't been like that. I later found out that Hagrid had been over excited when describing the giant squid and frightened them before their ride across the lake.

I returned to the hospital wing after the feast expecting a quiet night. I was proven wrong almost immedeatly. I had hardly been in my office for ten minutes before a first year Slytherin arrived, having an improperly cast itching jinx cast on him.

He was easy enough to sort out, though very rude about it and threatening to tell his father unless I hurried. No sooner had he left than Minerva arrived and requested a calming draught for another first year that was having a difficult time being away from home. Because I only used a mild potion I spent several minutes chatting with the student before I was sure that it had work and sent her on her way.

It was sometime later, as I was reading a letter from my Great-Aunt Lorina when Hagrid returned. Both to check on Ogg who I found to be a wonderful patient as all he wanted to do was sleep, and to present me with a welcoming gift. Wrapped it brown paper and tied with string.

I carefully opened it, remembering a story about another gift he had given that turned out to be a rather disgruntled niffler. Instead of an angry creature I found a thick and well-read book on treating wounds inflicted by creatures.

"I figured it might help ya, always a few students who go wondering around and run into somethin' they shouldn' be." Hagrid had explained to me.

A cursory glance through the book showed a number of injuries that I had never even heard of and couldn't imagen would be very common, as well as grooming tips for said creatures. Still I thanked him and added the book to the numerous shelves of books kept for reference. Each healer adding their own until the collection needed a room to itself off my office.

When I returned I was surprised to find the Divination Professor Joan Quigley, having never seen the need for divination I had never taken her class and only caught glimpses of her at meals. I found her to be a pleasant, if somewhat odd woman who made a number of predictions. Most of which I have forgotten. Some have remained with me though as they were so ludicrous. "You will assist a group of marauders."

She then went on to say that she would miss the excitement to come as she would soon return to her homeland to instruct a muggle leader. As she was leaving she also informed me that the next healer for Hogwarts would be from Hufflepuff. I suppose it is understandable that she got at least one of her predictions correct.

I had just set down to write my daily reports on my first cases when Minerva returned with two more first years. The boy had a number of small cuts and bruises on his face as well as swelling around his nose. The girl had purple hair that seemed to be knotting itself together even as I watched.

Minerva explained that they had apparently gotten into an argument about which quidditch team was better, which is odd as I would later learn that neither really cared about the game. As I treated the boy Minerva explained about the altercation between him and the girl as well as what spells were used. The girl had used what she referred to as the Bat-Bogey Hex, this would be far from the last time I treated someone suffering from its effects.

The boy had apparently tried some type of color changing charm on the girl's hair which had only partially worked, turning her red hair purple. He adamantly denied knowing why the hair was knotting itself into a mess.

I finished treatment of the boy and returned the girls hair to its normal color easily but the knotting problem had me stumped. I began to search the collection of books for anything that could help. The girl loudly complaining that she would have to cut her beautiful hair wasn't helping but I admit it did tempt me for a moment.

Finally I succeeded in finding the likely reason for the knotting and how to fix it in the book Hagrid had given me. I briefly wondered if past Hogwarts healers had to deal with such odd things. When I returned I caught the girl stealing glances at the boy, not all of them angry.

She was pleased when I managed to stop the knotting and untangle her hair. Minerva escorted the children back to their common room while I decided to finish my case reports before the staff meeting that night.

I was sidetrack part way through as I wondered just what I should expect as healer for Hogwarts. I retrieved the files for the last several years, my own included and began to look over the lists of what was treated and when.

There were the normal things one would expect in a castle filled with children. Hexes, jinxes and curses as well as miscast spells were the most common issues listed. But there was also a rather large amount of problems of a sexual nature.

I was shocked, I hadn't even kissed a boy until my fifth year and assumed most of the year mates hadn't either. Apparently their late night boastings weren't just talk. I saw that several people I had known had come in for things that I never would have imagined and would have been perfectly happy never knowing about. Including a rather bad case of Sckulacs that had spread among the upper years right after I finished Hogwarts.

Looking back further I learned that there had only been a handful to times where the hospital wing had been empty. And here I believed this would be a relatively boring job and quieter than being a healer just about anywhere else.

There were some records that gave me great pause if I should have even accepted to job. Honestly how does a person manage to splice themselves when they can't even apparate in Hogwarts? Well apparently half a dozen had found a way over the previous decade.

I was so engrossed in looking over the past medical records, something I really should have done earlier that day when I was just puttering around my office, that I was almost late to the faculty meeting.

I was the last to arrive and only moments before they were ready to start. If meeting with many of them for a meal was intimidating, sitting with them to discuss Hogwarts business was much worse. I was glad that I could just sit and listen, having no medical issues that needed to be brought up immediately with them.

Once again I was shocked at the number of problems that had already occurred, including several students who had been caught sneaking out of their common room. The running of the school was far more complex than I had ever imagined. I almost jumped out of my skin when the Headmaster asked me if I needed any more potions or other items. I felt like a child sitting at the adult table and wondered if I would ever be as comfortable as the others seemed.

I also discovered that staff meetings were dreadfully boring. I remember once in sixth year my friends and I had stayed up and talked about what we thought professors did outside of class. It seemed that we gave many of them more credit than was due.

When the meeting was finally over I returned to my office and the case reports I had put off to look at old records. I had just finished when Horace walked in with the same first year Slytherin that I had treated earlier that night. Only this time he was suffering from a more complex hex that caused him to make erratic jerking movements.

Thankfully it was one that I had come across in my studies and was easily able to remove. As he left he vowed that he would rule his house by the end of the year. Horace just patted him on the back, honestly that man and his little club, always trying to gain influence.

I updated the boy's record and thought that my night was finally done until there was an unholy racket outside the window. I rushed over; Ogg had been awoken by the sound and was just a moment behind me despite his injured leg. He summed it up rather well when he let out a long string of curses, most that I had never heard before or since.

Outside a dozen owls were flying around in a panic as they had somehow gotten their legs tangled in a net. My first thought was that this was something my Great-Aunt Lorina would rush out to fix, even if she had no idea what to do. Ogg was far less concerned and only suggested that I send word to Hagrid and have him go out to untangle them. He also explained that it was a rather common occurrence and that the owls had gotten caught in a rather large spider web.

I did as he asked and contacted Hagrid about the owls. Hagrid assured me that he knew that to do.

Once I had insured the Ogg was back in bed I returned to my office and pondered if I had made the correct choice. In a single night I had seen far more than I had expected and the students hadn't even been there a whole day.

On the other hand I had promised to give the job some time before I decided; perhaps it would slow down once the students were settled in properly.

I went to bed that night unsure if I even wished to continue as a healer but I believe somewhere I knew it was what I was destined to do. To watch after the children of Hogwarts even if I had been unable to do so for my own.

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(A/N: I wrote this story as Chaser 2 for the Caerphilly Catapults for the semifinals. Our character was Madam Pomfrey and I was to write about her first day on the job. My prompts were 6. (picture) 7. (word count) 2,222 (which was a pain to get to) and 12. (style) memoir

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.


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